China’s publicly listed brokerage firms experienced nearly a 50% increase in first-half profits, with leading industry players dominating the gains while smaller firms showed more varied results.
The 42 securities companies listed on the mainland reported a combined net profit attributable to shareholders of approximately CNY155.2 billion (USD23.1 billion) and total revenue of around CNY363.8 billion (USD54.1 billion), reflecting growth of 49% and 44% year-over-year, according to Wind data. The top ten firms collectively generated CNY248.1 billion in revenue, making up about 68% of the entire industry revenue.
More than 90% of these firms reported higher revenue and net profits compared to last year. The leading three in terms of revenue were Citic Securities, Guotai Haitong Securities, and GF Securities, with revenues of CNY49.7 billion (USD7.4 billion), CNY47.2 billion, and CNY26.9 billion, respectively.
Sun Ting, a chief analyst specializing in non-banking financial services, noted that the strong performance was primarily driven by growth in wealth management, investment banking, and investments in technological innovation. “The top securities firms have significantly exceeded market expectations, while smaller firms display a wide range of performance results,” she said.
Ten listed brokerages reported first-half revenues exceeding CNY10 billion. Among these, five posted net profits above CNY10 billion, including Citic Securities, Guotai Haitong Securities, Huatai Securities, GF Securities, and China Merchants Securities, with net profits of CNY23.3 billion, CNY20.3 billion, CNY11.7 billion, CNY11.65 billion, and CNY10.6 billion, respectively.
Together, these five firms accounted for nearly half of the total net profit earned by all listed brokerages during the period, highlighting the ongoing earnings concentration among China’s top securities companies.
Divergent Performance Among Smaller Firms
While some smaller brokerages lagged behind their larger counterparts in profitability, a few achieved significant revenue and profit growth. Five listed firms saw their net profits more than double compared to last year. These were TF Securities, Zhongtai Securities, China Merchants Securities, Caida Securities, and Huaan Securities. Notably, China Merchants Securities, one of the top five most profitable brokerages in China, was among them.
However, the performance of smaller firms was inconsistent, ranging from modest gains to notable declines.
China Great Wall Securities, based in Shenzhen, experienced a slight 0.5% decrease in revenue to CNY2.8 billion (USD423 million), but net profit rose slightly by 0.7% to CNY1.4 billion.
In contrast, Chinalin Securities, located in China’s southeastern tech hub, saw its revenue increase 2% to CNY849 million (USD126 million), yet its net profit dropped sharply by 23% to CNY258 million.
Even weaker was Hongta Securities, based in Kunming, which declined across both measures, with revenue falling 14% to CNY1 billion and net profit dropping 24% to CNY510 million.