Can BlackRock’s New Leader Yu Beihua Engineer a Performance Turnaround in China?

7 mins read
October 17, 2025

Executive Summary

– BlackRock Fund’s management scale has fluctuated dramatically, with recent growth heavily reliant on new bond fund launches rather than organic equity performance.– Key equity products like BlackRock China New Vision have consistently underperformed benchmarks, with negative returns exceeding 30% since inception.– Personnel instability has plagued the firm, with three general manager changes in four years and recent departures of star fund managers.– New leadership under Yu Beihua signals a strategic pivot towards fixed income, but cultural integration and market adaptation remain critical hurdles.– Investors should monitor the firm’s ability to stabilize its team and deliver consistent results in China’s competitive fund landscape.

Navigating Turbulent Waters in China’s Fund Market

When BlackRock Fund became China’s first wholly foreign-owned public fund management company in 2021, expectations soared that the global asset management giant would revolutionize local investment practices. Four years later, the reality tells a different story—one of performance struggles, management scale volatility, and unprecedented personnel changes. The appointment of Yu Beihua as the third general manager in March 2025 represents perhaps the most significant opportunity for a performance turnaround yet. As BlackRock attempts to recalibrate its China strategy, international investors wonder whether this $10 trillion asset manager can adapt its global expertise to local market realities. The success or failure of this performance turnaround will serve as a crucial case study for foreign financial institutions seeking to penetrate China’s $3.8 trillion mutual fund industry.

Performance Woes and Scale Volatility

BlackRock Fund’s journey in China has been characterized by inconsistent growth and disappointing investment returns. The firm’s management scale has experienced dramatic fluctuations since its operational launch in June 2021, reflecting the challenges of establishing a sustainable foothold in the competitive Chinese fund market.

Management Scale Rollercoaster

BlackRock Fund debuted with an initial fundraising scale of 6.681 billion yuan in 2021, only to see this figure decline steadily before briefly surpassing 8 billion yuan by end-2023. The volatility intensified throughout 2024 and 2025—scale nearly halved to 4.321 billion yuan in early 2024, rebounded to 10.785 billion yuan by year-end 2024 (marking the first time crossing the 10-billion-yuan threshold), then collapsed again to 5.601 billion yuan by Q1 2025. As of June 30, 2025, the company managed 6.86 billion yuan, before climbing to 13.502 billion yuan by September 30, 2025. This recent growth primarily stemmed from the September launch of BlackRock China Bond Investment Preferred Green Bond Index Fund, which alone attracted 6 billion yuan. Without this single fixed-income product, BlackRock Fund’s scale expansion would appear minimal, highlighting the firm’s struggles in building diversified asset growth.

Persistent Equity Underperformance

The root cause of BlackRock Fund’s scale instability lies in its equity products’ disappointing track records. According to Tonghuashun iFind data, BlackRock’s equity-oriented funds have delivered negative three-year returns, significantly trailing both peer companies and the CSI 300 Index. The flagship BlackRock China New Vision Mixed Fund, the company’s first product and cornerstone equity offering, has generated a cumulative return of -32.45% since inception, consistently underperforming both its benchmark and the broader market. Similarly, BlackRock Industry Preferred Mixed Fund has struggled, with both funds ranking in the bottom percentile of their categories. This performance gap raises questions about whether BlackRock’s global investment methodologies translate effectively to China’s unique market dynamics, where retail investors dominate trading volumes and sentiment-driven swings often override fundamental analysis.

Team Reshuffles and Leadership Instability

Beyond performance issues, BlackRock Fund has faced unprecedented personnel turbulence, particularly within its equity investment team. The revolving door of key investment professionals and executives has complicated the firm’s efforts to establish consistency and build investor confidence.

Frequent Changes in Key Positions

BlackRock Fund has witnessed remarkable turnover across senior roles since commencing operations in 2021. The general manager position has changed hands three times in four years—Zhang Chi departed in February 2024, Chen Jian left in March 2025, and Yu Beihua assumed the role in March 2025. Other critical positions have experienced similar instability: Chairman Tang Xiaodong stepped down in August 2023, Deputy General Manager and Investment Director Lu Wenjie departed in July 2024, and Deputy General Manager Hong Xia left in February 2025. This executive musical chairs reflects the challenges global asset managers face when transplanting leadership models into China’s distinct business environment, where relationship networks and local market understanding often trump international credentials.

Impact on Fund Management

The equity team underwent particularly dramatic changes in 2025. In September, Chief Equity Investment Officer Shen Yufei simultaneously stepped down from managing both BlackRock China New Vision and BlackRock Industry Preferred funds. Shen Yufei had joined BlackRock Fund in 2023 after a decade at Galaxy Fund Management where he delivered impressive performance across multiple funds, with four products achieving annualized returns exceeding 10%. However, his success didn’t translate to BlackRock—both funds he managed posted negative returns since inception. Prior to Shen Yufei’s departure, Yang Dong resigned as portfolio manager of BlackRock Hong Kong Stock Connect Vision Mixed Fund in June 2025, leaving with a -13.22%任职回报 and -4.2% annualized return. These high-profile departures of previously successful managers suggest potential cultural or operational mismatches between BlackRock’s global framework and the autonomy typically afforded star portfolio managers in China.

Strategic Pivot Under New Leadership

The appointment of Yu Beihua as general manager in March 2025 signals a potential inflection point in BlackRock Fund’s China strategy. With her extensive background in China’s banking and fund management sectors, Yu Beihua represents a deliberate shift toward leadership with deep local market expertise.

Yu Beihua’s Appointment and Background

Yu Beihua brings substantial domestic financial industry experience to her role as BlackRock Fund’s third general manager. She previously served as general manager of SPDB-AIG Fund Management Co., Ltd., where she oversaw significant growth in the company’s fixed income business. Before that, she built her career within China Merchants Bank system, developing expertise in retail banking and wealth management products. Market observers interpret her appointment as a clear signal that BlackRock intends to strengthen its fixed income capabilities in China, potentially de-emphasizing the equity strategies that have struggled since launch. Her mandate appears focused on engineering a performance turnaround by leveraging her established relationships within China’s financial ecosystem and her proven track record in navigating regulatory complexities.

Shift Towards Fixed Income Products

BlackRock Fund’s product pipeline confirms this strategic reorientation toward fixed income. In 2025 alone, the company launched four bond funds, with the BlackRock China Bond Investment Preferred Green Bond Index Fund raising 6 billion yuan in September—single-handedly boosting the firm’s total management scale by nearly 50%. This fixed income focus aligns with broader industry trends, as Chinese investors increasingly seek stability amid equity market volatility. The recruitment of Wang Dengfeng as chief capital officer in August 2025 further reinforces this direction. Wang Dengfeng previously managed Yu’ebao (余额宝) at Tianhong Fund, growing it into a 1.6 trillion yuan behemoth and generating cumulative returns of 35% during his tenure. His expertise in money market funds and massive retail distribution channels could prove invaluable as BlackRock attempts to build scale in China’s fixed income space. This strategic pivot represents BlackRock’s most concerted effort yet to achieve a performance turnaround in the world’s second-largest economy.

Market Challenges and Adaptation

BlackRock’s struggles in China reflect broader challenges foreign asset managers face when entering the country’s fund management industry. Cultural differences, regulatory nuances, and intense local competition create formidable barriers to success.

Cultural and Operational Hurdles

A Shenzhen-based public fund researcher highlighted the core challenge:表面上,贝莱德擅长的“自上而下”宏观配置与量化模型在A股市场未能完全适应 (On the surface, BlackRock’s strengths in top-down macro allocation and quantitative models have not fully adapted to the A-share market). The deeper issue may involve cultural integration—international management styles often clash with local team expectations regarding autonomy, compensation structures, and investment decision-making processes. BlackRock’s systematic, research-driven approach has historically excelled in developed markets but faces headwinds in China’s retail-dominated landscape, where momentum investing and policy sensitivity often drive short-term performance. The frequent personnel changes suggest ongoing difficulties in balancing global standards with local market realities, potentially hampering the firm’s ability to execute a successful performance turnaround.

Competitive Landscape in China’s Fund Market

China’s public fund industry has grown exponentially, with domestic giants like E Fund Management (易方达基金管理有限公司) and China Asset Management (华夏基金管理有限公司) dominating market share through extensive branch networks and deep retail relationships. Foreign firms collectively manage less than 5% of industry assets despite China fully opening the sector in 2020. BlackRock Fund’s 13.5 billion yuan scale pales in comparison to market leaders managing over 1 trillion yuan each. The intense competition forces new entrants to either differentiate through unique strategies or compete on price—neither approach has yet yielded significant traction for BlackRock. Success requires not just superior investment performance but also effective distribution partnerships, brand building, and regulatory navigation—all areas where local players maintain structural advantages. BlackRock’s performance turnaround depends on identifying sustainable competitive edges within this crowded marketplace.

Future Outlook and Investor Implications

As BlackRock Fund enters its fifth year of operations in China, the pressure mounts to demonstrate that its global expertise can translate into local market success. The strategic shifts under Yu Beihua’s leadership will face immediate scrutiny from investors and competitors alike.

Potential Turnaround Strategies

BlackRock’s path to a sustainable performance turnaround likely involves several parallel initiatives:– Deepening fixed income capabilities to capitalize on growing demand for bond investments amid economic uncertainty– Developing specialized products that leverage BlackRock’s global research in areas like ESG, technology, and healthcare– Forging strategic partnerships with Chinese financial institutions to enhance distribution and local market intelligence– Implementing hybrid investment approaches that combine BlackRock’s quantitative frameworks with on-the-ground fundamental analysis– Stabilizing the investment team through competitive compensation and clearer career progression pathwaysThe recent focus on green bonds represents one such specialization opportunity, aligning with China’s carbon neutrality goals while leveraging BlackRock’s global sustainable investing expertise.

Key Metrics to Watch

Investors monitoring BlackRock Fund’s progress should track several critical indicators:– Management scale excluding one-off bond fund launches to assess organic growth– Retention rates of key investment professionals as a measure of cultural integration– Performance of newly launched products against relevant benchmarks– Market share within specific product categories rather than overall industry ranking– Regulatory developments that might create openings for foreign managersThe ultimate test will be whether BlackRock can deliver the consistent performance turnaround that has thus far eluded them in China. With Yu Beihua at the helm and a clearer fixed income focus, the next 12-18 months will prove decisive in determining whether the world’s largest asset manager can crack the code in one of its most important growth markets.

Navigating the Path Forward

BlackRock Fund’s China journey illustrates the complex realities global financial institutions face when entering promising but challenging emerging markets. While the firm’s initial equity-focused approach struggled against local competition and cultural barriers, the strategic pivot toward fixed income under Yu Beihua’s leadership offers a renewed pathway to relevance. The recent management scale growth from bond fund launches provides temporary relief, but sustainable success requires addressing fundamental issues around team stability, investment process localization, and product differentiation. For international investors, BlackRock’s experience serves as a cautionary tale about the difficulties of transplanting global investment models without sufficient adaptation to local conditions. The coming quarters will reveal whether Yu Beihua can engineer the performance turnaround that has thus far proven elusive—a development that would reshape competitive dynamics in China’s fund management industry and potentially open doors for other foreign entrants. As China’s capital markets continue evolving, the ability to balance global expertise with local intelligence remains the ultimate determinant of success.

Eliza Wong

Eliza Wong

Eliza Wong fervently explores China’s ancient intellectual legacy as a cornerstone of global civilization, driven by a deep patriotic commitment to showcasing the nation’s enduring cultural greatness.