Head brokerage performance showdown! Who is the biggest "aircraft carrier"?

Ask AI · How can Guotai Haitong achieve asset overtaking after the merger?

The annual report disclosure season is here, and the performance of leading securities firms in 2025 is emerging.

In 2025, trading in the A-share market is active, and the performance of top securities companies has increased significantly. As of April 1, excluding Guosen Securities, the top ten listed brokerages by revenue in 2024 have all disclosed their 2025 annual reports.

According to Tonghuashun iFinD statistics, CITIC Securities continues to maintain its industry leading position, with 74.854 billion yuan in operating revenue and 30.076 billion yuan in net profit attributable to shareholders, remaining at the top of the industry, with rapid growth in brokerage, investment banking, and other business income.

Guotai Haitong, leveraging the synergy effects after the merger and restructuring, achieved 63.107 billion yuan in operating revenue and 27.809 billion yuan in net profit attributable to shareholders, forming the first tier in revenue scale alongside CITIC Securities.

Huatai Securities’ performance growth is relatively steady, with both operating revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders increasing by nearly 7%; asset management net income declined.

Guangfa Securities, CICC, China Galaxy, China Merchants Securities, Shenwan Hongyuan, and CITIC Construction Investment all have operating revenues exceeding 20 billion yuan.

CITIC Securities and Guotai Haitong’s total assets surpass 2 trillion yuan

According to Tonghuashun iFinD statistics, from the perspective of total assets, by the end of 2025, CITIC Securities and Guotai Haitong both exceeded 2 trillion yuan, demonstrating their absolute size advantage over subsequent tiers.

Thanks to the synergy effects after the merger, Guotai Haitong’s total assets reached 21.1438 trillion yuan, surpassing CITIC Securities, which had total assets of 20.8193 trillion yuan.

The third place is Huatai Securities, with total assets of 10.7735 trillion yuan. Following closely is Guangfa Securities, with 9.7548 trillion yuan.

According to Tonghuashun iFinD, China Galaxy, CICC, China Merchants Securities, Shenwan Hongyuan, and CITIC Construction Investment have total assets of 8.5575 trillion yuan, 7.8283 trillion yuan, 7.5348 trillion yuan, 7.4155 trillion yuan, and 6.7682 trillion yuan respectively.

Nine leading brokerages have revenue exceeding 20 billion yuan

According to Tonghuashun iFinD, in 2025, nine leading brokerages each had operating revenues over 20 billion yuan.

CITIC Securities remains first, with 74.854 billion yuan in operating revenue, maintaining its top position and being the only listed brokerage with revenue over 70 billion yuan.

Guotai Haitong follows closely, forming the first tier with CITIC Securities in revenue scale, achieving 63.107 billion yuan in 2025.

Huatai Securities’ revenue continues to rank third, reaching 35.810 billion yuan.

Guangfa Securities’ revenue rose from 5th place in 2024 to 4th, reaching 35.493 billion yuan.

Following are CICC, China Galaxy, China Merchants Securities, Shenwan Hongyuan, and CITIC Construction Investment, with revenues of 28.481 billion yuan, 28.302 billion yuan, 24.971 billion yuan, 24.256 billion yuan, and 23.322 billion yuan respectively.

Analysts believe that in 2025, the securities industry shows a clear “the strong get stronger” pattern, with the top 9 brokerages’ total assets roughly matching their market positions. Guotai Haitong’s asset scale overtook others through the merger, becoming a new industry leader; CITIC Securities maintains its profitability lead; Huatai Securities remains in third place. The positive correlation between asset size and revenue is especially evident among top-tier brokerages.

In terms of growth rate, in 2025, all nine leading brokerages achieved year-on-year growth in operating revenue. Among them, Guotai Haitong had the highest growth last year, at 87.40%.

Guangfa Securities, CICC, and Shenwan Hongyuan all saw their operating revenues increase by over 30% year-on-year last year, at 34.33%, 33.50%, and 30.29% respectively.

CITIC Securities, China Galaxy, and CITIC Construction Investment’s revenue growth last year exceeded 20%, at 28.80%, 24.34%, and 22.41%.

China Merchants Securities and Huatai Securities’ revenues grew by 19.53% and 6.83% respectively year-on-year.

Six brokerages had net profits attributable to shareholders exceeding 10 billion yuan

According to Tonghuashun iFinD, in terms of net profit attributable to shareholders, currently six brokerages in 2025 have net profits over 10 billion yuan.

CITIC Securities ranks first with 30.076 billion yuan in profit. Guotai Haitong follows closely, with a net profit of 27.809 billion yuan last year. Huatai Securities ranks third, with a net profit of 16.383 billion yuan last year.

Guangfa Securities, China Galaxy, and China Merchants Securities also had net profits exceeding 10 billion yuan last year, at 13.702 billion yuan, 12.520 billion yuan, and 12.350 billion yuan respectively. CICC, Shenwan Hongyuan, and CITIC Construction Investment each had net profits over 9 billion yuan in 2025, at 9.791 billion yuan, 9.507 billion yuan, and 9.439 billion yuan.

In terms of profit growth, the nine leading brokerages all saw year-on-year increases. Guotai Haitong had the largest increase, up 113.52%.

Shenwan Hongyuan and CICC’s net profits last year grew by over 50%, at 82.46% and 71.93% respectively.

Guangfa Securities, CITIC Securities, CITIC Construction Investment, China Galaxy, China Merchants Securities, and Huatai Securities’ net profit growth rates were 42.18%, 38.58%, 30.68%, 24.81%, 18.91%, and 6.72% respectively.

Analysts believe that the “dual giants” pattern in the securities industry remains stable: CITIC Securities and Guotai Haitong rank top two in revenue, net profit, and asset scale, forming industry dual leaders.

Brokerage business income generally rises

According to Tonghuashun iFinD, from the perspective of segmented business lines, the brokerage and investment banking businesses of top firms have generally increased.

In 2025, leveraging merger advantages, Guotai Haitong’s brokerage fee net income reached 15.138 billion yuan, surpassing CITIC Securities, whose brokerage fee net income was 14.753 billion yuan. Currently, only these two brokerages have brokerage fee net income over 10 billion yuan.

Guangfa Securities’ brokerage fee net income was 9.597 billion yuan, ranking third. Huatai Securities follows with 9.122 billion yuan. China Merchants Securities and China Galaxy’s brokerage fee net incomes exceeded 8 billion yuan, at 8.893 billion yuan and 8.846 billion yuan respectively. CITIC Construction Investment and CICC had brokerage fee net incomes of 7.970 billion yuan and 6.171 billion yuan.

In investment banking, CITIC Securities leads the domestic equity financing market, while CICC has clear cross-border advantages.

CITIC Securities’ investment banking fee net income was 6.336 billion yuan, ranking first in the industry. CICC’s was 5.031 billion yuan, second. Among the top five in this performance metric are Guotai Haitong, CITIC Construction Investment, and Huatai Securities, with investment banking fee incomes of 4.657 billion yuan, 3.129 billion yuan, and 3.099 billion yuan respectively.

In asset management, based on asset management fee net income, CITIC Securities’ asset management fee income was 12.177 billion yuan. Guangfa Securities and Guotai Haitong followed with 7.703 billion yuan and 6.393 billion yuan. Huatai Securities, CICC, and CITIC Construction Investment had asset management fee incomes of 1.798 billion yuan, 1.582 billion yuan, and 1.345 billion yuan respectively.

Analysts believe that under the overall profit environment, top brokerages still maintain industry leadership, with more comprehensive business layouts covering investment banking, asset management, institutional business, and wealth management; operating efficiency is higher, and digital infrastructure is more mature. Overall, the competitive advantage of top brokerages continues to expand, and industry concentration shows an upward trend.

Source: Financial Times Client

Reporter: Yang Yi

Editor: Yunyang