Chasing the historic highs from five years ago, the top ten brokerage rankings are quietly changing.

Why does AI · Investment Banking Drag on Brokerages’ Record High Revenues?

21st Century Business Herald Reporter Cui Wenjing

The major brokerages’ 2025 annual reports are nearing completion. A performance report showing “net profit hitting a new high, revenue not reaching a new high” has emerged: proprietary trading and wealth management have become key drivers of overall brokerage performance growth, while investment banking is also crucial for some top brokerages’ performance improvements. However, most brokerages’ operating income still has not surpassed the high point from five years ago.

In 2025, the main A-share indices rose across the board, providing fertile ground for proprietary trading. The contribution of proprietary trading income to total revenue at top brokerages generally exceeds 30%, with CITIC Securities’ proprietary trading income accounting for as much as 51.57% of total revenue—this alone surpasses the annual revenue of all brokerages except Guotai-Haitong and others. Meanwhile, the results of the wealth management transformation are increasingly evident, with most top brokerages seeing year-over-year growth rates of around 20%, with the highest contributions exceeding 40%.

However, structural differentiation is obvious. Most top brokerages’ parent net profits hit record highs, but only Guangfa Securities among the top ten brokerages’ revenue surpasses the 2021 high. Investment banking has become a key variable—brokerages with a high proportion of IPO income that year are more affected by issuance rhythm adjustments. Take CITIC Securities as an example: in 2025, revenue decreased by about 1.67 billion yuan compared to 2021, nearly equal to the shrinkage of investment banking income.

The rankings are quietly changing. Over the past five years, Guangfa Securities has risen from sixth to fourth place, China International Capital Corporation (CICC) from seventh to fifth, and China Merchants Securities from ninth to seventh. Meanwhile, Orient Securities, through brokerage and fund distribution, achieved nine consecutive years of revenue growth, jumping from 72nd to 11th in the industry.

Overall, in 2025, the brokerage industry delivered impressive results driven by both investment and wealth management, but the gap between the recovery of investment banking and its historical peak still leaves room for future competition.

As of April 3, the disclosure of top brokerages’ 2025 annual reports is nearly complete. Except for Guosen Securities, brokerages expected to enter the top ten industry rankings have all submitted their 2025 results.

In 2022 and 2023, the overall performance of securities firms was below expectations. From 2024 onwards, performance has rapidly improved. Taking operating income as an example, most top brokerages’ year-over-year growth rates exceed 5%, with half of the top ten brokerages reaching double digits.

It is important to note that brokerage income is closely related to A-share market performance. The improvement in brokerage performance in 2024 largely benefited from the market stabilization since the “924” rally, meaning the fourth quarter of 2024 was a key period for performance improvement. In 2025, the overall performance of A-shares was even stronger, with main indices rising across the board: Shanghai Composite Index up 18.41%, SME Board Index up 31.61%, ChiNext Index up 40.40%. This also made most brokerages’ 2025 performance significantly better than in 2024.

Taking operating income as an example again, among the top ten brokerages, 60% saw year-over-year growth rates of over 20% in 2025, with three exceeding 30%. Even CITIC Securities, with the highest base in 2024 at 63.79B yuan, had a 28.79% YoY increase in 2025.

Wealth management, proprietary trading (also called investment income), and investment banking are the key areas for most top brokerages’ performance surges. Due to the Matthew effect in investment banking, the income gains from the current market improvement are mostly captured by leading brokerages. Therefore, the performance improvement of small- and medium-sized brokerages relies more on wealth management and proprietary trading.

By 2024, proprietary trading had become the main driver of many brokerages’ performance improvements, and the effectiveness of wealth management transformation became apparent in 2025. In recent years, securities firms have actively promoted wealth management transformation, shifting from the traditional “product sales” model to an “investment advisory” model. As the transformation results become evident, core indicators such as revenue and profit margins of wealth management businesses at brokerages have significantly improved in 2025, with most top brokerages’ wealth management revenue YoY growth around 20%, and profit margins increasing by over 10 percentage points compared to 2024.

Let’s look at two typical cases: one is Huatai Securities, traditionally strong in brokerage, and the other is CICC, relatively weaker in brokerage but ahead in wealth management transformation.

In 2025, Huatai Securities’ wealth management revenue reached 15.86B yuan, up 29.85%, contributing 44.30% to total revenue, with gross profit margin rising 4.80 percentage points to 55.75%. Its wealth management business, transformed from traditional brokerage, fully demonstrates the advantage of brokerage firms in wealth management performance in 2025.

CICC, known for investment banking, has relatively weak brokerage business but has made remarkable progress in wealth management transformation in recent years, representing an institution that started late in brokerage but took the lead in wealth management transformation. In 2025, CICC’s wealth management revenue reached 9.49B yuan, up 35.91% YoY, significantly boosting its performance for the year.

Proprietary trading, with its low costs, high profit margins, and close ties to market conditions, has always been the core engine driving brokerage performance in good market years, and a main contributor to revenue. Although top brokerages have a relatively balanced layout across business lines and rely less on proprietary trading, in good market years, their scale advantages and excellent investment management capabilities enable them to earn high investment returns, making proprietary trading income a substantial part of total revenue. In 2025, proprietary trading income at top brokerages generally accounts for over 30% of total revenue, with CITIC Securities reaching as high as 51.57%, totaling 38.6B yuan.

What does 38.6B yuan of proprietary trading income mean? Only CITIC Securities and Guotai-Haitong among brokerages with total operating income above this figure in 2025. Even brokerages with over 35 billion yuan in revenue include only four: Huatai Securities, Guangfa Securities, CITIC Securities, and Guotai-Haitong.

In other words, relying solely on proprietary trading, CITIC Securities outperformed all other brokerages except Guotai-Haitong in total revenue. The importance of proprietary trading in good market years is evident.

Focusing on the top ten brokerages, which one made the biggest progress in 2025?

Operating income and net profit attributable to parent are the two key indicators. Overall, most brokerages in 2025 saw both revenue and profit increase, with YoY growth rates exceeding 20%, and some even hitting record highs.

However, apart from a few like Guotai-Haitong due to mergers, the record highs in 2025 are more reflected in net profit. Although brokerage operating income generally increased significantly compared to 2021, there is still a gap.

Taking CITIC Securities, the “industry leader,” as an example: its net profit attributable to parent in 2025 reached 30.08B yuan, up 38.58% YoY. This is the first time CITIC Securities’ annual net profit has exceeded 30 billion yuan. In 2021, the peak year for brokerage performance, its net profit attributable to parent was 23.1 billion yuan, so the 2025 figure is nearly 7 billion higher.

However, in terms of operating income, CITIC Securities’ 2021 revenue was 76.52B yuan, and in 2025 it was 74.85B yuan, still 1.67 billion yuan below the peak.

Most other top ten brokerages are similar, with two exceptions—Guotai-Haitong and Guangfa Securities. The former’s 2025 revenue hit a record high of 63.11B yuan, thanks to its merger of Guotai Junan and Haitong Securities; 2025 is the first annual report after the merger, so comparability is limited.

Guangfa Securities’ performance is based on real growth: its 2025 revenue was 35.49B yuan, up 1.24B yuan from 2021’s 34.25 billion yuan. In fact, Guangfa Securities has maintained steady performance in recent years, steadily climbing the rankings—from sixth in 2021, dropping to eighth in 2022, then consistently in the top five from 2023, and further rising to fourth in 2025, making it the fastest rising among top ten brokerages.

This rise in ranking and sustained performance improvement are driven by expanded advantages in trading and institutional business, the effectiveness of wealth management transformation, and a significant increase in investment management income—each with YoY growth rates in 2025 of 60.19%, 28.32%, and 21.63%, respectively. But it’s also worth noting that Guangfa Securities’ ability to reach a record high in revenue in 2025 is partly related to its limited scale in investment banking.

With ongoing adjustments in A-share IPO and refinancing rhythms, although most top brokerages’ investment banking income has improved significantly compared to the past two years, there remains a considerable gap compared to 2021. This also means that brokerages with larger investment banking scales, especially those with high IPO income, are more affected by the rhythm adjustments.

Taking CITIC Securities again as an example: its investment banking income in 2025 was 6.34B yuan, down 1.82 billion yuan from 8.16B yuan in 2021. The difference between 2025 and 2021 is 1.67 billion yuan. If excluding the impact of investment banking, CITIC Securities’ 2025 operating income would still surpass 2021, setting a new record.

In contrast, Guangfa Securities’ investment banking income in 2021 was only 433 million yuan, as it was suspended from business due to the Kangmei Pharmaceutical fraud case at that time, nearly halting its sponsorship and bond underwriting businesses. Now, as the historical issues are gradually cleared, its investment banking income has recovered, reaching 884 million yuan in 2025. Although far from the strong investment banks like CITIC Securities, CICC, Guotai-Haitong, and CITIC Construction Investment, this is a significant breakthrough for Guangfa Securities itself.

Looking at the operating income of the brokerages that have disclosed their 2025 annual reports by April 3, the top ten are: CITIC Securities (74.85B yuan), Guotai-Haitong (63.11B yuan), Huatai Securities (35.81B yuan), Guangfa Securities (35.49B yuan), CICC (28.48B yuan), China Galaxy Securities (28.3B yuan), China Merchants Securities (24.97B yuan), CITIC Construction Investment (23.32B yuan), Shenwan Hongyuan (23.16B yuan), Orient Securities (15.36B yuan). Guosen Securities, which has not yet disclosed its 2025 report, is also expected to enter the top ten.

In terms of YoY growth rate, Guotai-Haitong leads with 87.40%, related to its merger. Besides, the most notable growth is CICC, which increased from 21.33B yuan in 2024 to 28.48B yuan in 2025, a 33.51% jump.

Most other brokerages’ YoY growth rates are around 20%.

In terms of net profit attributable to parent, the increase is even more significant. Guotai-Haitong ranks first with 113.52% growth, while Shenwan Hongyuan and CICC also saw YoY increases of over 70%, at 82.46% and 71.93%, respectively.

Looking at a longer timeline, the top ten brokerages’ rankings have remained relatively stable over the past five years, despite some changes.

Among the top ten, three brokerages have improved their operating income ranking over the past five years: Guangfa Securities, CICC, and China Merchants Securities. Guangfa Securities moved from sixth in 2021 to fourth in 2025; CICC from seventh to fifth; and China Merchants Securities from ninth to seventh.

CICC’s performance in 2025 saw a significant increase, with net profit attributable to parent rising 71.93% YoY to 9.79B yuan. Its performance boost is not only due to the overall increase in wealth management and proprietary trading income in 2025 but also heavily driven by investment banking. Its investment banking income grew by 77.95% YoY to 4.6B yuan, with profit margins soaring 26.26 percentage points to 42.63%.

Behind this surge in investment banking, CICC’s comprehensive success in various business areas in A-shares and Hong Kong stocks is evident. For example, its IPO underwriting amount in A-shares increased from 3.59 billion yuan in 2024 to 16.24B yuan in 2025, about five times more; refinancing underwriting increased from 12.35B yuan to 91.92B yuan, about seven times more. Its Hong Kong stock underwriting, while not as high as A-shares, also grew significantly—106% YoY for IPO underwriting, and 216% for refinancing and block trades. Notably, CICC has consistently ranked first among Chinese brokerages in Hong Kong equity underwriting, maintaining the top position since 2024, indicating a relatively large base and high growth rate.

Another noteworthy brokerage outside the top ten is Orient Securities. Starting as an internet broker with Tiantian Fund, acquiring Tibet Tongxin Securities in 2015 and renaming to Orient Securities in 2016, it has not only steadily improved its ranking but also is the only brokerage to maintain consecutive annual revenue growth through two industry downturns. For example, in 2016, its revenue was only 7.2 billion yuan, ranking 72nd; by 2021, it rose to 22nd, close to firms like Founder Securities and Great Wall Securities. By 2025, its revenue reached 16.07B yuan, second only to Orient Securities, ranking 11th among brokerages that disclosed results by April 2, surpassing firms like Industrial Securities, Zhongtai Securities, and Everbright Securities.

The nine-year consecutive growth in Orient Securities’ revenue reflects its excellent operational capability and the broader trend—an internet-originated firm precisely riding the wave of internet development, securing a brokerage license, and focusing on core strengths like brokerage and fund distribution rather than a full-scale traditional business layout. In 2025, its brokerage income grew 50.30% YoY to 7.72B yuan, surpassing many brokerages including Guolian Minsheng, Western Securities, Hu’an Securities, and Dongxing Securities. According to Wind data, among 52 brokerages that disclosed 2025 results by April 1, only 17 had revenue above 7.724 billion yuan.

Overall, the performance recovery and ranking shifts of top brokerages in 2025 are driven by market recovery and the long-term accumulation of strategic paths. The upward breakthroughs of Guangfa, CICC, and China Merchants Securities, along with Orient Securities’ continuous rise, all point to a simple truth: in cyclical fluctuations, only institutions that deeply cultivate their advantages and adapt to change can sustain upward momentum.