The securities industry’s 2025 report card looks impressive: seven firms have entered the "Double Billion Club," with a contrast between rising employee salaries and declining executive compensation.

Why do employees get pay raises while executives see pay cuts? What policy reasons are behind it?

Jiemian News reporter | Chen Jing

In 2025, activity in China’s domestic capital markets reached a historic high. The Shanghai Composite Index delivered double-digit gains for the year, and the daily average trading value in the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets set a new record. With a favorable environment for the industry, the domestic securities sector produced a “historic-grade” set of results full of substance.

The latest data from the China Securities Industry Association shows that 150 securities firms recorded operating revenue of 541.171 billion yuan in 2025, up 19.95% year on year; net profit was 219.439 billion yuan, up 31.2% year on year. Net profit growth clearly outpaced revenue growth, highlighting the industry’s notable results in cost control and business-structure optimization.

By the end of 2025, the 150 brokerages had total assets of 14.83 trillion yuan, net assets of 3.34 trillion yuan, net capital of 2.44 trillion yuan, customer transaction settlement funds (including credit trading funds) of 3.24 trillion yuan, and a total principal amount of entrusted management funds of 9.53 trillion yuan.

Segment-wise business areas show a pattern of “growth in multiple spots, with some differentiation.” Among them, net income from securities agency trading (including trading unit seat leasing) was 163.796 billion yuan, up 42.2% year on year; net income from investment consulting was 7.694 billion yuan, up 41.4% year on year; net income from financial advisory business was 5.784 billion yuan; net interest income was 64.687 billion yuan, up 29.07% year on year; net income from securities underwriting and sponsorship was 33.711 billion yuan, up 13.7% year on year. Only asset management business net income declined slightly—down 0.25% year on year to 23.887 billion yuan.

Notably, securities investment gains (including changes in fair value) reached 185.324 billion yuan. Although they rose by only 6.5% year on year, they accounted for as much as 34.2% of the industry’s revenue, making them the core driver behind the sharp surge in industry net profit.

From the performance of listed brokerages, industry differentiation has further intensified. Choice Financial Terminal data shows that, as of March 31, all 26 listed securities firms and shareholding firms that had disclosed their 2025 results were profitable, and all achieved year-on-year increases in both revenue and net profit. Cumulatively, they generated operating revenue of 454.71 billion yuan, up 31.93% year on year; total net profit attributable to parent was 185.064 billion yuan, up 44.61% year on year—its growth rate significantly higher than the industry’s overall level.

The leading advantage of top-tier brokerages continues to stand out. CITIC Securities (600030.SH) ranked first in the industry with 74.854 billion yuan in operating revenue and 30.076 billion yuan in net profit attributable to parent. Its net profit attributable to parent first-time exceeded 30 billion yuan, further consolidating core business competitiveness. Guotai Huarong (601211.SH), closely following, achieved operating revenue of 63.107 billion yuan and net profit attributable to parent of 27.809 billion yuan. The two institutions are among the only entities in the industry with operating revenue above 60 billion yuan and net profit attributable to parent above 20 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, the industry’s “Double Hundred Billion Club” has expanded. There are already 7 institutions that have simultaneously achieved both operating revenue and net profit attributable to parent of over 100 billion yuan—2 more than in 2024. Together with GF Securities (000776.SZ) and Eastmoney (300059.SZ), they rank among the leaders, alongside CITIC Securities, Guotai Huarong, Huatai Securities (601688.SH), China Galaxy (601881.SH), and China Merchants Securities (600999.SH).

In addition, China International Capital Corporation (601995.SH), Shenwan Hongyuan (000166.SZ), and CITIC Construction Investment (601066.SH) all saw net profit attributable to parent exceed 90 billion yuan, becoming key reserve forces for the “Double Hundred Billion Club.” The clustering effect among industry leaders continues to be strengthened.

Based on Jiemian News’s analysis using Eastmoney Choice data, it found that as industry performance keeps improving, brokerage employees’ compensation has returned to a comprehensive rebound after a long absence. After excluding Guotai Huarong and Guolian Minsheng (601456.SH), whose data may be distorted due to integration, among 24 listed securities firms and securities-concept stocks that had disclosed their 2025 annual reports, 21 reported higher average employee compensation year on year. The increases were concentrated in the 5% to 20% range, confirming the market-driven linkage between industry conditions and the level of employee compensation.

Alongside the differentiation in compensation increases, employee compensation performance also varies significantly across different firms. Hua’an Securities (600909.SH) became the “trend leader” in this round of compensation hikes, with average employee compensation rising by as much as 30.96% year on year. Xingye Securities (601377.SH), China International Capital Corporation, and Zhongyuan Securities (601375.SH) followed, with increases of 26.35%, 24.4%, and 20.89%, respectively.

Even for top brokerages that remain in the top three in the industry, compensation also shows a steady rebound trend. Specifically, CITIC Securities’ average employee compensation rose from 779.8 thousand yuan in 2024 to 812.8 thousand yuan, up 4.23% year on year. Huatai Securities increased from 639.6 thousand yuan to 669.1 thousand yuan, up 4.61%.

For Guotai Huarong Securities, after calculating average compensation per employee as (Guotai Junan’s total number of employees at the end of 2024 + Haitong Securities’ total number of employees in mid-2024) ÷ 2, the average annual compensation per employee for 2025 was approximately 70.98 thousand yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 0.02%.

People related to Guolian Minsheng said that, based on simulated combined data, the company’s average compensation per employee (including benefits) in 2025 reached 63.42 thousand yuan, up 21.2% year on year; excluding benefits, it was 51.37 thousand yuan, up 24% year on year.

Looking back at 2021 to 2024, due to regulatory requirements for standardizing financial institutions’ compensation systems, as well as factors such as brokerages’ own performance-evaluation mechanisms and optimization adjustments to deferred pay ratios, some brokerages’ per-capita compensation was reduced for two to three consecutive years, with the largest reduction as high as 40%.

“Employees’ compensation rebound is a lagging reflection of the industry’s overall recovery. It helps stabilize the talent pipeline, ease pressure from the loss of key personnel, and also leaves room for the industry to attract outstanding talent. Meanwhile, the overall restrained pace of the rebound also reflects the industry’s prudent and rational approach to compensation management,” said Tian Lihui, a professor of finance at Nankai University, in an interview with Jiemian News.

In stark contrast to the warmth in ordinary employees’ compensation, brokerage executives’ total compensation is still being reduced, showing a differentiated pattern of “employees rise, executives fall.” Based on relevant announcements and statistics from Choice Financial Terminal, among the 26 institutions that had disclosed their 2025 performance, executives’ total compensation totaled about 372 million yuan, down 8.2% year on year. Of these, 22 institutions saw declines in executives’ total compensation year on year, and 10 institutions had drops exceeding 20%.

Specifically, Shenwan Hongyuan had the most significant decline, reaching 37.41%. China Galaxy and Hua’an Securities saw declines of 30.76% and 29.21%, respectively.

Regarding this clear-cut compensation divergence, an insider told Jiemian News that behind it are mainly three core driving factors working together: first, constraints at the policy-compliance level—especially for brokerages with a background linked to financial central state-owned enterprises, whose executives’ compensation is subject to stricter window guidance, with oversight and control efforts continuing to be strengthened; second, continuous improvement of the compensation deferral mechanism. Currently, most brokerages’ executives’ performance-based compensation generally follows the 3–5 year deferral and payment rule. The compensation actually paid in 2025 corresponds to the performance trough period of 2022 to 2024, which directly leads to a decline in executives’ total compensation for the current period; third, adjustments to the linkage between risk and compensation. Regulators have clearly required that executives’ compensation must be deeply tied to the level of compliance risk control and long-term operating performance. The industry’s short-term profit growth cannot directly be converted into executives’ cash compensation in the current period.

“This indicates that brokerages’ compensation systems are entering a long-term adjustment cycle. The divergence between executives’ and employees’ compensation structures may become a norm for the industry,” the insider added.

Tian Lihui further analyzed for Jiemian News that the divergence in the trends of executives’ and employees’ compensation reflects a profound shift in compensation-management philosophy under regulatory guidance. “ ‘Capping the high end, expanding the middle, and raising the low end’ has become a consensus across the industry.” “This adjustment is not a cyclical fluctuation; it is a sign that the industry’s compensation system has entered a long-term structural adjustment. In the future, executives’ compensation will depend even more on long-term equity incentives, and the flexibility of employees’ compensation to fluctuate with business cycles will be further enhanced.”