(Yicai Global) Aug. 26 -- Ant Hangzhou Fund Sales, an online third-party fund sales platform, has seen a huge jump in first-half revenue and profit, according to an earnings report yesterday from one of its main shareholders, Hundsun Technologies. 

Ant Fund had net profit of CNY325 million (USD50.1 million) in the six months ended June 30, a 495 percent gain from a year earlier, while revenue soared 180 percent to CNY5.8 billion (USD894.2 million). The ratio of net profit to revenue also rose to 5.63 percent, the highest level since 2016. 

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group and Hundsun own 68.83 percent and 24.1 percent of Ant Fund, which had sold 5,788 funds on behalf of 140 fund companies as of yesterday, according to Wind Data Service. 

As of the end of the second quarter, its non-money market mutual funds were worth CNY1.06 trillion (USD163.5 billion), making the platform China's first fund seller to break past the CNY1 trillion mark. 

China’s internet giants enjoy demographic benefits as they have a huge number of young users, China Fund News reported today, citing a source in a fund company. This gives their affiliated fund sales arms advantages in both sales rates and transaction convenience, which are among the key factors underpinning Ant Group's rapid growth in fund sales, the source said. 

With internet platforms becoming more powerful, they are also becoming more demanding. One large platform recently announced new requirements for sales commissions, China Fund News reported last month, citing an industry insider. New index funds will not be able to access the huge customer base on its platform unless the fund management fee plus the sales service fee amounts to at least 0.5 percent of the fund sales, the report said. 

But recent anti-monopoly measures against large internet platforms may become a major variable affecting the growth of internet fund sales agencies, according to some industry insiders.

“It’s highly likely Ant Fund's sales growth will be impacted should Alipay's ability to redirect potential customers to Ant Fund be weakened,” one insider told Yicai Global.

Editor: Tom Litting