(Yicai Global) July 17 -- Wealth assets under management in China have started to climb again after shrinking last month, according to the chief economist at Citic Securities.

The decline was a normal seasonal change, and the market has already started to recover this month, Ming Ming told Yicai Global.

The country’s wealth assets under management fell by CNY1.2 trillion (USD167.4 billion) to CNY25.3 trillion (USD3.5 trillion) in June from the previous month, according to figures from Citic Securities.

Wealth assets generally shrink in the final month of a quarter from the previous month because of factors such as end-of-quarter assessments and maturity dates, he said.

The phenomenon is evident in March and June, when bank deposits are under great pressure, Ming added, noting that the figure tends to rebound strongly the following month.

In the last week of June alone, the figure fell CNY873.4 billion (USD121.8 billion) from the previous week, while in the first week of July it bounced back CNY800 billion, according to data from GF Securities.

Wealth assets under management are expected to continue to rebound in the second half amid discounts on service charges and lower deposit rates, according to financial institutions.

A big redemption of wealth management products is unlikely, Ming pointed out. The overall scale of wealth assets under management is expected to return above CNY29 trillion this half based on the standard practice of more vigorous issuance in the second half of the year.

But time will be needed to regain investors’ long-term trust in wealth management products, an industry insider told Yicai Global.

Wealth managers and individual investors are more inclined to seek long-term deposits and bancassurance products to lock in interest rates, while financial products are more recommended for short-term, low-risk investment, financial managers at the Beijing branches of several banks told Yicai Global.

Editor: Futura Costaglione