Listed brokerages see overall performance increase in 2025: Only one company experiences revenue decline, with the leading market share continuing to rise

Ask AI · How can small and mid-sized brokerages achieve high growth in a highly differentiated landscape?

【Global Times Finance Summary】With the increase in activity levels in the A-share market in 2025, the performance of listed brokerages has rebounded across the board. Among the 25 brokerages that have disclosed their annual reports, only Western Securities experienced a revenue decline; the other 24 achieved double-digit growth in both revenue and net profit, indicating a high-growth, highly differentiated industry pattern.

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Data shows that the year-over-year growth rate of attributable net profit for these 25 brokerages ranges from 6.72% to 405.49%, with 11 brokerages seeing net profit increases of over 50%. Among them, Guolian Minsheng and Guotai Haitong lead in performance due to mergers and restructuring; eight small and mid-sized brokerages including Central Plains Securities, Founder Securities, and Guohai Securities also saw net profit growth exceeding 50%. Haitong Securities experienced a net profit increase of 6.72% due to one-off gains, and after excluding non-recurring items, the growth rate reached 80%.

The industry’s Matthew effect is prominent. China Citic Securities ranks first with revenue of 748.54 billion yuan and net profit of 300.51 billion yuan, with year-over-year increases of 28.79% and 38.58%, respectively. Guotai Haitong ranks second with revenue of 631.07 billion yuan and net profit of 278.09 billion yuan. Net profits at Haitong Securities, GF Securities, China Galaxy Securities, CMB Securities, and Shenwan Hongyuan all exceed 100 billion yuan; the combined net profit of these nine leading brokerages accounts for 81% of the total net profit of all 25 brokerages.

Business structure is broadly improving. Wealth management businesses have surged, with 70% of brokerages seeing net fee income from brokerage commissions grow by over 30%. Investment banking businesses have bottomed out and rebounded, with 20 firms achieving positive growth. In proprietary trading, the strong get stronger: China Citic Securities’ proprietary trading income is 386.04 billion yuan, ranking first—over 132 billion yuan ahead of the second-place Guotai Haitong; proprietary trading income at CICC, Shenwan Hongyuan, Haitong Securities, and others also exceeds 100 billion yuan.

Asset management business shows clear differentiation: only 13 firms achieved growth in net fee income. China Citic Securities’ asset management income was 121.77 billion yuan, up 16% year-over-year; GF Securities and Guotai Haitong followed closely with 77.03 billion yuan and 63.93 billion yuan, respectively. Among the 12 asset management firms including Southwest Securities, Dongxing Securities, and Hualin Securities, asset management income declined, with some decreases exceeding 20%.

Western Securities is the only brokerage with a revenue decline: in 2025, its revenue was 5.985 billion yuan, but its net profit was 1.754 billion yuan. The company states that the decline was mainly due to the contraction of its commodity trading business.

Industry insiders believe that the rebound in market activity and the optimization of business structure are driving industry growth. Leading brokerages, leveraging advantages in capital, investment research, and distribution channels, will continue to consolidate their leadership positions, and industry concentration is expected to further increase. (Chen Shiyi)