China’s retail savings and investments market is set for the worst year since 2008 financial crash due to the domestic disruption and impact on trade partners due to the global coronavirus pandemic, according to GlobalData, a data and analytics company.

Senior Banking and Payments Analyst, Ravi Sharma at GlobalData in a media statement said that growth in deposits will be modest in 2020, with little government support. Households would have to dip into savings. Bond growth will surge as investors seek the stable return of fixed income products. Equities however, will decline in 2020 by 20 per cent. This is due to Chinese stock markets tumbling once Covid-19 became a pandemic in March.

Due to the prevalence of equity funds in China, mutual funds are expected to largely mirror the decline in equities forecasts. As China is the first country to enter and exit full lockdown, its 2020 growth is at a high risk from a second-wave outbreak, which weighs heavily on the expected full-year growth, Sharma said in the statement.

The disruption to global demand will weigh heavily on the wealth market in China, even as it gets back to work. Wealth managers should be aware that many of their affluent and HNW clients will have their hands full dealing with the negative impact of the crisis on their businesses, in addition to any losses to their investment portfolio, Sharma added in the statement.