"The Hidden Corner": Innovative Returns of High-End Wealth Management Channels in the Era of Low Interest Rates

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After low interest rates gradually became the norm, a somewhat "strange" industry phenomenon began to appear.

On one hand, mainstream cash tools for the public are offering increasingly similar returns and functions.

On the other hand, some products that appear only on high-end wealth-management shelves of major brokerages and are mainly targeted at private banking clients are taking a completely different path when it comes to "parking cash."

The "cash" that should have been the simplest and most transparent is now being put into more complex arrangements.

This change is not ostentatious and is rarely discussed separately, but it is quietly taking place.

For a portion of funds, "where to put it" is no longer just a choice of yield, but has entered another operating system altogether.

An "Exception" Among Idle Cash Products

In the current low-interest environment, the return you get by placing idle but accessible cash in various products is already similar.

Zishitang notes that on CICC’s wealth management platform, a product called “Xianjinbao” (Cash Bao) stands out among similar cash products.

The full name of this product is “Foreign Trade Trust – CICC Cash Bao XX Collective Fund Trust Scheme,” hereafter referred to as “CICC Cash Bao.” Public information shows this product is open to private high-net-worth clients, with a seven-day annualized yield of up to 1.9% (as of December 25, 2025).

The “outstanding” yield comes from a direct comparison with mainstream cash management tools.

As of now, the annual interest rate for a one-year fixed deposit at major state-owned banks has fallen below 1%, and the five-year fixed deposit rate is about 1.3%. At the same time, the ten-year treasury bond yield is running around 1.80%, while most "baby" money funds on the market still have an annualized return near 1%.

Given this background, the key differences between CICC Cash Bao and traditional fixed deposits, government bonds, and money funds are its relatively higher yield and a clientele that does not include the general public.

How Is This Money "Parked"?

Judging from its name, "CICC Cash Bao" is not a fund but a trust product, as indicated by the term “collective fund trust plan” in its full name, which determines its basic structure.

Simply put, investors do not hand their money directly to CICC. Instead, the funds are managed via a trust channel, given to China Foreign Economy and Trade Trust Co., Ltd. (Foreign Trade Trust) for unified management.

CICC’s role is to provide investment advice and specific operations for this trust—what is usually called "managing the account."

As shown in the image above, the product deliberately promotes an experience close to "parking cash":

The product supports daily subscription and redemption; after redemption is submitted, funds generally arrive within T+2 trading days.

In other words, this product does not require long-term fund locking, and its liquidity settings are similar to most cash management products.

Looks Like a Money Fund, But Actually It’s Not

If the user experience is so close to cash, why isn’t CICC Cash Bao just a money market fund?

In terms of use, CICC Cash Bao’s liquidity arrangement is similar to money funds: daily subscription and redemption supported, mainly for funds that are temporarily idle but may need to be accessed.

However, unlike most money funds that settle T+0 or T+1, CICC Cash Bao redemptions require T+2 trading days, which is the usual operational pace of trust products.

Product-wise, it does not adopt the more common money fund structure but goes via the trust channel instead.

This setup is different from cash management products familiar to ordinary investors: trust products are not open to everyone and have a relatively high participation threshold. The minimum subscription to CICC Cash Bao is 300,000 RMB, and investors must complete a qualified investor accreditation (meeting private client requirements), so eligibility is not solely determined by investment amount.

Thus, while CICC Cash Bao is "close to cash in user experience," it still maintains a clear distinction from money funds in settlement period, product carrier, and mode of operation.

Zishitang understands that the reason private products often use the trust channel is mainly to pool dispersed funds for unified management and offer greater operational flexibility.

Layer After Layer

When a product originally meant for "parking cash" requires multiple layers of arrangements to operate, things are no longer so simple.

Below the layer of CICC Cash Bao, funds do not go directly into specific bonds or money market tools.

According to the product prospectus, investors’ subscriptions to CICC Cash Bao are mainly invested in another trust product’s units.

Yes, you read that right!

The full name of Cash Bao is itself a trust plan, but the funds raised are invested in yet another trust plan.

Specifically, the funds are invested in the “Foreign Trade Trust – Wan Shi Sheng Xiang Bond Select [A] (Ri Ri Xin) Collective Fund Trust Plan” managed by China Foreign Economy and Trade Trust Co., Ltd.

This forms the most straightforward “layer after layer” structure of CICC Cash Bao:

The first layer is the Cash Bao product purchased by investors.

The second layer is the underlying trust plan where the actual asset allocation happens at a deeper level.

Within the underlying trust, funds are mainly allocated to standardized fixed-income assets supplemented by highly liquid tools like reverse repos and negotiable certificates of deposit to meet overall subscription/redemption needs.

At this point, the product’s "complexity" already begins to show.

Due to limited public information, we cannot know more detailed operations of “Foreign Trade Trust – Wan Shi Sheng Xiang Bond Select [A] (Ri Ri Xin)”, but it is certain that the underlying trust was established on September 11, 2019.

Judging from the name and investment direction, this is a bond-focused product with a risk level higher than ordinary money funds.

"Extraordinary" Compensation Structure

What’s truly noteworthy is the “extraordinary” fee structure under these layers.

According to product documents, the underlying trust has a clear performance benchmark, and any portion exceeding the benchmark is fully taken as a floating management fee, at a 100% accrual rate and calculated daily.

This approach is completely different from most private products in the market.

Whether in private securities funds or hedge funds, the portion of excess return taken as fees is usually around 20%, with some top-performing or highly-negotiated quant funds taking 25–30%, usually settled annually or at intervals. It is rare to see a "fully accrued" method.

In the CICC Cash Bao structure, the excess return is not split between the investor and the manager, but is fully counted as management fees.

This setup is more "direct" in form and breaks the industry convention most common in private equity.

It’s worth noting that this fee mechanism is not put in a high-volatility, high-risk aggressive product, but embedded in a cash product structure that’s repeatedly promoted for its "liquidity" and "ease of access."

Where Is the Money, Really?

Finally, we return to the actual product performance.

Looking at the yield curve of CICC Cash Bao, the per-ten-thousand-yield displays regular distribution over a long period, with most trading days’ yields concentrated in similar ranges and pronounced jumps only at isolated points.

Meanwhile, the evolution of CICC Cash Bao’s numbering on the platform reveals another noteworthy detail.

Public information shows this product has appeared as No. 1 to No. 11 successively, and later a sub-plan 151 also emerged.

Observing all these phenomena together, some questions arise:

Is CICC Cash Bao a product operating independently around a single asset and account? Or is it more of a continuously managed fund pool?

It should be emphasized that this understanding does not equate to a compliance judgment on the product.

In practice, using multiple subplans to manage funds in layers is not uncommon in trust and private products.

But for a product continuously promoted as "close to cash experience," the presence of such an operational model makes it difficult to simply apply the logic of a traditional money fund or single private product.

CICC Cash Bao is more like a cash solution tailored for a particular client group......

Risk Warning and DisclaimerThe market carries risks, and investments should be made with caution. This article does not constitute individual investment advice, nor does it take into account the particular investment objectives, financial situations, or needs of any individual user. Users should consider whether opinions, views, or conclusions contained herein are suitable for their specific situation. Investments made based on this article are at your own risk. ```