In today's fast-moving capital markets, going all-in on offense or digging in purely for defense are both straightforward moves. The real challenge lies in dynamically balancing the two, calibrating the risk-return scale as market conditions shift. This year in particular, A-shares have delivered a largely structural market, marked by rapid rotation across sectors and styles, with pronounced divergence among industry groups. As a result, the dangers of one-sided positioning have become increasingly evident.
It is within this context that "balanced" products, designed to marry upside flexibility with robust drawdown control, are emerging as a rational choice for a growing number of investors. The core logic of an equity-linked bond fund is to construct a bridge between risk and return: fixed-income assets supply the foundational coupon income, acting as the portfolio's safety cushion to cap overall drawdowns, while equity assets seek to capture structural opportunities in the market, aiming to boost portfolio returns. Together, this structure strives to achieve a blend of defense and offense amidst market volatility.
ICBC Credit Suisse Ju Xiang Mixed (Class A: 011729, Class C: 011730), a partial-equity bond fund developed by the active quant team at ICBC Credit Suisse Fund, relies on quantitative models to focus on a diversified enhancement strategy targeting small and mid-cap names. It represents a practical attempt to chart a course in the equity-bond balancing act.
Where the Numbers Stand
Launched on August 24, 2021, ICBC Credit Suisse Ju Xiang Mixed came under the management of Jiao Wenlong starting September 22, 2023. Jiao restructured the overall investment framework, establishing a clear approach: bonds as the foundational allocation and a quantitative model driving diversified small-cap enhancement on the equity side. This shift produced a notable change in the fund's performance and risk profile; it preserved solid return elasticity while keeping drawdowns contained, allowing its performance to consistently rank near the top of its peer group.
Data verified by the custodian bank shows that, as of August 31, 2026, ICBC Credit Suisse Ju Xiang Mixed Class A returned 6.77% year-to-date, 12.62% over the past year, and 55.34% over the past three years. During the same periods, the performance benchmark delivered 2.17%, 3.24%, and 16.69%, respectively, demonstrating significant excess returns. Even more compelling is the fund's full-year performance in 2025, a period when the small-cap style held a distinct advantage. That year, the fund posted a net asset value growth rate of 31.44%, versus a benchmark return of just 5.75%, translating into an excess return of 25.69%—a result that speaks for itself.
What makes this stand out is that the fund secured these considerable excess returns while restraining its maximum annual drawdown to 4.90%, according to Wind data. This represents a genuine optimization of the risk-reward profile. A cross-sectional comparison further underscores the solidity of its track record. As of August 31, 2026, the fund's three-year performance ranked near the top in multiple respected evaluation systems: 4th out of 242 similar funds in Galaxy Securities, 7th out of 1,169 in Morningstar China, and 10th out of 1,077 in Guotai Haitong Securities. These three systems differ in sample coverage and methodology, yet ICBC Credit Suisse Ju Xiang Mixed Class A consistently holds a leading position across all of them, indicating that its performance is no statistical fluke but rather reflects a stable capacity for generating Alpha.
Strategy at Its Heart: Diversified Small-Caps for Enhanced Flexibility
Performance rankings are simply the results of the fund's operation. To truly understand this product, one must examine its research and investment architecture and the mindset of its fund manager. As the general manager of the Index and Quantitative Investment Department at ICBC Credit Suisse Fund, Jiao Wenlong brings 17 years of securities industry experience and 11 years of investment management expertise. His early career involved quantitative engineering and FOF asset allocation work, giving him fluency in quantitative modeling alongside cross-asset allocation capabilities. He excels at integrating the discipline of systematic quantitative methods into the management of an equity-linked bond fund.
Fund periodic reports reveal that the fund's equity allocation as a proportion of total assets has remained above 37% since September 2023, peaking near the 40% contractual cap. This moderately active equity stance aims to bolster portfolio returns. According to the fund's interim report, as of June 30, 2026, the equity portion stood at 37.94% of total assets. Within this allocation framework, the equity strategy hinges on a quant-driven, broadly diversified small-cap positioning approach. Its effectiveness depends heavily on the proprietary quantitative research and trading platform developed by ICBC Credit Suisse Fund. This integrated system covers data cleansing, research support, strategy tracking, return attribution, and investment execution, embedding a full suite of algorithms and functions commonly used in quantitative research. The platform systematically operationalizes the entire quant-investment workflow, unifying research and execution under one roof.
With this platform's support, the strategy effectively sidesteps the concentration risks associated with individual stocks and sectors, capturing structural opportunities with precision. The deeper value of quantitative methods, however, lies in using discipline to counter human emotion: during sharp market swings, chasing rallies, panic selling, and frequent portfolio churn tend to amplify losses. A quantitative model executes decisions according to predetermined rules, remaining immune to market sentiment. This is what turns "having the nerve to buy when buying is right and the discipline to hold when holding is right" into a repeatable, executable process—a key reason ICBC Credit Suisse Ju Xiang Mixed has been able to generate Alpha through style shifts.
A look at actual holdings confirms the "small-cap, diversified" character is unmistakable. The fund's second-quarter report shows that the top ten weighted stocks have circulating market values mostly in the 15-30 billion range, all classified as small to mid-cap. Collectively, these top ten positions account for just 1.74% of the fund's net asset value, with individual stock weightings exceptionally low. The vast majority of the equity enhancement positions sit outside the top ten, spanning sectors including healthcare, medical devices, machinery, basic chemicals, textiles, real estate services, and auto parts. The strategy does not depend on forecasting the fortunes of any single theme or betting on corporate governance overhauls or product cycles of specific companies. Instead, it acquires a sufficiently diversified basket of small-cap stocks, seeking to capture the broad-based recovery opportunities of the small-cap segment under specific market conditions.
Worth emphasizing is that this model—broad coverage, low single-stock weight, and a focus on small and mid-cap names—may be well-positioned to fully share in the gains during small-cap-led markets. In the 2025 small-cap rally, for instance, the strategy's advantages were fully unleashed, capturing the recovery in the small-cap segment and delivering investment returns that significantly outperformed the benchmark. Looking ahead, the currently appealing valuation of small-cap growth stocks may offer a favorable window for equity enhancement. On the fixed-income side, the fund primarily holds interest-rate bonds, proactively avoiding credit risk, while dynamically adjusting duration in response to shifts in liquidity and yield levels. In the second quarter, with market liquidity remaining reasonably loose and yield benchmarks trending lower amid range-bound fluctuations, the fund took the initiative to extend the bond portfolio's duration, reinforcing fixed-income support for the overall portfolio while maintaining liquidity management and drawdown control.
In summary, the fund has established a complete feedback loop: bonds construct a solid base, and the equity side deploys quantitative methods to unearth opportunities in small and mid-cap names, adding flexibility. It weaves the discipline of a systematic quant framework into the balancing act of an equity-linked bond fund.
Steadying the Balance for the Road Ahead
Looking forward, the fund manager's semi-annual report conveys a cautiously optimistic outlook. At the macro level, the domestic economy is in a recovery process, albeit one where the pace of revival may encounter setbacks. A sustained one-way market rally appears unlikely, and style rotation is expected to remain a recurring theme. On the equity front, opportunities in the second half are likely to hinge on the alignment of earnings delivery with long-term fundamental narratives. The degree to which new growth drivers—such as technology, AI, and advanced manufacturing—deliver on earnings will be pivotal. Small and mid-cap names, supported by earnings repair and active capital flows, may retain a degree of relative flexibility, with large-cap and small-cap styles potentially gravitating toward rebalancing after diverging in the first half. On the bond side, macro liquidity is expected to remain accommodative, with monetary policy delivering targeted support. Still, attention must be paid to how overseas inflation and U.S. Treasury yields might intermittently disrupt domestic interest rates. Risk control within the fixed-income core should stay front and center.
In such a complicated backdrop, attempting to make precise bets on a particular sector or style offers an unattractive risk-reward trade-off. The approach of ICBC Credit Suisse Ju Xiang Mixed is to translate this market understanding into strategic discipline. It does not demand that investors accurately predict broader market direction or perfectly time sector rotation. Instead, it delegates decision-making to the discipline of the quantitative system and the cross-asset allocation expertise of the fund manager. For everyday investors, choosing this type of balanced product is essentially a choice for a more sustainable holding experience: capturing structural opportunities through an equity-bond mix and a diversified quantitative strategy. In an unpredictable market, the goal is not to seek gains by gambling on direction but to rely on a mature, repeatable framework that raises the probability of navigating through different market environments. That, in essence, is the long-term value that ICBC Credit Suisse Ju Xiang Mixed strives to deliver.
Peer Group Classification: Within Galaxy Securities, ICBC Credit Suisse Ju Xiang Mixed falls under "Hybrid Funds - Partial Debt Funds - Ordinary Partial Debt Funds (Equity cap above 30%) (Class A)"; within Morningstar China, it is categorized as "China Open-End Funds - Conservative Allocation"; and within Guotai Haitong Securities, it is classified as "Active Hybrid Open-End."
Performance Data: ICBC Credit Suisse Ju Xiang Mixed Class A was established on August 24, 2021. Its annual net asset value growth rates for 2022-2025 were -4.57%, -7.64%, 8.37%, and 31.44%, respectively, against benchmark returns of -4.5%, -0.17%, 10.21%, and 5.75% for the same years. Data is sourced from the fund's periodic reports.
Fee Structure: The fee schedule for ICBC Credit Suisse Ju Xiang Mixed is as follows (discounts may apply as displayed by distribution institutions; M/Y denote amount/holding period): An annual management fee of 0.50% and an annual custody fee of 0.10%. Class A shares do not carry a sales service fee; Class C shares incur a sales service fee of 0.40% annually. For Class A subscription fees: for non-pension clients, a rate of 1.50% applies when M is less than 1 million yuan; 1.00% when M is between 1 million and 3 million yuan; 0.80% when M is between 3 million and 5 million yuan; and a flat fee of 1,000 yuan per transaction when M equals or exceeds 5 million yuan. For pension clients: 0.15% for M below 1 million yuan; 0.10% for M between 1 million and 3 million yuan; 0.08% for M between 3 million and 5 million yuan; and 1,000 yuan per transaction for M of 5 million yuan or more. Class C shares are not subject to a subscription fee. Class A redemption fees are: 1.50% for Y less than 7 days; 0.75% for Y between 7 and 30 days; 0.50% for Y between 30 days and 1 year; 0.30% for Y between 1 and 2 years; and 0% for Y of 2 years or more. Class C redemption fees are: 1.5% for Y less than 7 days; 0.50% for Y between 7 and 30 days; and 0% for Y of 30 days or longer.
Risk Disclosure: The views expressed are for reference only, are time-sensitive, and do not constitute investment advice or promises of returns, nor do they represent the fund's future asset allocation direction. The fund manager administers and manages fund assets in accordance with the principles of diligence, honesty, creditworthiness, and prudence, but does not guarantee profitability or a minimum return. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and the performance of other funds managed by the same manager does not guarantee the performance of this fund. ICBC Credit Suisse Ju Xiang Mixed is a hybrid fund; its expected returns and risk levels are lower than those of equity funds but higher than those of bond funds and money market funds. Investing involves risk. Before investing, investors should carefully read the fund contract, prospectus, fund product summary, and any updates, and choose investment products that match their own risk tolerance based on a full understanding of the product, fee structure, channel-specific charges, and the suitability recommendations of sales institutions. Fund investment requires caution.