Early-year issuance trends highlight increasing demand for capital-protected deposit products.
The SRP database registered 1,241 retail structured deposits issued in China in the first month of 2026.
China: monthly issuance of retail structured deposits between Jan 2025 and Jan 2026
Source: SRP
Issuance continued to grow and increased by 15% from the previous month, which had 1,072 structured deposits in the retail market in China. The figure surpassed the issuance of 1,237 products recorded in January 2025. Regardless of the growth in issuance, the overall estimated sales volume of retail structured deposits stood at US$25.5 billion in January, showing a decrease of 14% from December 2025 which US$29.5 billion recorded.
Underlyings, payoffs
FX rates continued to dominate underlying asset exposure, regardless of the market share dropping from 76% to 69% month-to-month. There were 859 products linked to FX rates valued at approximately US$19.1 billion. Next line, commodities (gold) with 88 products continued to expand with sales volume at US$4.2 billion, reaching the highest level in the past 12 months. The top three underlying ranking was completed by equities (single index) with 84 products worth an estimated US$1.5 billion.
The XAU/USD pair was the most popular underlying asset for structured deposits in January by product issuance, capturing a market share of 27% with 334 products.
However, the overall sales volume decreased from US$7.7 billion (347 products) recorded in the previous month to US$5.6 billion in January. The EUR/USD pair followed with 290 issuances, totalling an estimated sales of US$7.5 billion. The AUD/USD pair moved to fourth place in January with 77 products sold at estimated US$1.4 billion. The USD/JPY pair in fifth place continued to gain traction among FX rates underlyings in January with 68 products sold at estimated US$1.2 billion.
Gold as underlying asset maintained the third place in January with 88 products, despite a slightly drop in issuance. The sales volume increased from US$3.3 billion in December to US$4.2 billion in January.
China: structured deposits sold to retail investors - top 10 most used underlyings by issuance in January 2025
Source: SRP
The CSI SmallCap 500 slid to the fifth place in the underlying ranking with 64 issuances.
Almost half of these retail structured deposits linked to the CSI Smallcap 500 featured autocall payoffs, including 20 products issued by Shenzhen Ping An Bank. The other half of these products linked to the index featured a shark fin payoff, and were all issued by China Merchants Bank.
Interest rate-linked products tied to China Treasury Bond 10Y maintained at the similar level of nine products in December in SRP database.
Share baskets featuring Alphabet and Nvidia appeared in top 10 underlyings employed in retail structured deposit for the first in China in January. All featured autocall payoffs and were issued by HSBC (China).
Issuers
China Merchants Bank secured the first place in the issuer ranking in January with a nine percent month-to-month decrease in issuance. The bank however still led the retail structured deposit market with 389 products – despite a decrease from 427 products recorded in December.
Bank of China maintained the second place, continuing its consecutive month-to-month growth since September, with issuances rising six percent from 232 products in December to 246 in January.
HSBC (China) returned to the third place, issuing 218 products in January, compared to 218 products issued in December. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank moved to fourth place with 109 issuances recorded followed by Shenzhen Ping An Bank of 61 issuances.
China: retail structured deposits - top 10 issuers by issuance in January 2026
Source: SRP
The top five issuer ranking in January was completed by China Merchants Bank (389 products), Bank of China (246 products), HSBC (China) (218 products), Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (109 products) and Shenzhen Ping An Bank (61 products).
Looking ahead
Some 786 retail structured deposits in the Chinese market will reach maturity in February 2026 compared to 987 structured deposits in January.
The best‑performing structured deposit was China Merchants Bank’s 招商银行智汇系列看涨两层区间92天结构性存款/ 92D CNY Structured Deposit FZZ01171 linked to the EUR/ USD pair, offering digital payoff.
The product struck on 23 October 2025 and matured on 23 January 2026 with a 102.95% payout (12.22% p.a.).
Image: Toa555/Adobe Stock
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