Management fee income of Taiwan's top three investment trust ETFs reached 17.1 billion yuan, but sales fee income is declining

According to the financial reports of the top three investment trust companies in Taiwan, the annual management fee (manager fee) revenue alone is as high as 17.1 billion yuan. (File photo)

[Reporter Gao Jiahe/Taipei Report] Taiwanese ETFs (index stock funds) are the third largest in Asia, second only to China and Japan, whose population bases far exceed Taiwan. According to the financial reports of the top three investment trust companies in Taiwan, the annual management fee (manager fee) revenue alone is as high as 17.1 billion yuan.

In terms of ETF issuance scale, Yuanta Investment Trust, Cathay Pacific Investment Trust and Fubon Investment Trust, the top three companies, have not yet disclosed this year’s latest semi-annual report. However, judging from last year’s financial report, Yuanta Investment Trust collected management fees of 7.665 billion yuan due to its large scale of Taiwan stock ETFs.

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Cathay Investment Trust, which is following closely behind, has jumped from 5.268 billion yuan in 2024 to 6.236 billion yuan; while Fubon Investment Trust has benefited from market popularity and merger benefits, and its management fees have soared by more than 40%, exceeding the 3.2 billion yuan mark in one fell swoop.

These three major investment trusts alone collect 17.1 billion yuan in management fees from investors a year, making them the biggest winners of this wave of Taiwan stock ETF craze.

Although management fees are abundant, the "sales fee income" of the three major investment banks has shown stagnation or even decline across the board.

In 2025, Yuanta Investment's sales fee dropped slightly to 183 million yuan, Fubon Investment Trust also fell to 138 million yuan, and Cathay Pacific's other income, including sales fees, also dropped by nearly 15% year-on-year.

This trend shows that in the past era of active funds, investment trusts relied heavily on sales through bank channels to earn one-time "subscription fees." However, in the era of ETFs, investors can directly buy and sell in the secondary market through brokers, and instead, brokers earn a lot of transaction fees. In order to seize market share in the primary market, investment trusts often offer fee-free promotions during the initial public offering (IPO) of ETFs, resulting in sales fee income being unable to keep up with the growth of total assets.

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