Brokerages' 2025 annual report net profits fully rebound; large, medium, and small institutions break through with stratified differentiation

Ask AI · How will mergers and acquisitions in the securities industry promote high-quality development?

Recently, the annual reports for 2025 of A-share listed securities firms have entered a dense disclosure period. Wind data shows that as of March 31, when the article was published, 26 listed securities firms had disclosed their 2025 performance, achieving a total operating revenue of 440.06B yuan, an 11.26% increase year-on-year; net profit attributable to parent company was 185.06B yuan, a 44.61% increase year-on-year.

Looking back at 2025, trading activity in the capital market significantly warmed up, driving the simultaneous recovery of brokerage, proprietary trading, and other businesses, laying a foundation for securities industry performance growth. Leading securities firms, leveraging their advantages in full-service chain layout, maintained relatively steady growth overall. Meanwhile, small and medium-sized institutions sought their own differentiated competitive tracks, with many “dark horses” showing high performance growth.

Eight firms surpassed 440.06B yuan in net profit attributable to parent company

As of March 31, when the article was published, 26 listed securities firms including CITIC Securities, Guotai Huarong, Huatai Securities, China International Capital Corporation, and GF Securities had disclosed their 2025 annual reports. Against the backdrop of significantly increased activity in the capital market in 2025, the performance of these listed firms generally showed growth.

Wind data indicates that the 26 listed securities firms achieved a combined operating revenue of 395.52B yuan in 2025, up 11.26% from 185.06B yuan in 2024; net profit attributable to parent was 127.98B yuan, a substantial increase of 44.61% from 33k yuan in 2024. Fourteen firms had operating revenues exceeding 74.85B yuan, up from 12 in 2024; eight firms had net profits exceeding 10 billion yuan, also showing significant growth compared to five in 2024.

Regarding the reasons for high performance growth, AVIC Securities analysts believe that in 2025, domestic capital market activity remained active, with the equity market gradually warming, and trading volumes in Shanghai and Shenzhen markets significantly increased compared to the previous year, driving comprehensive improvement in core brokerage businesses. Brokerage revenue benefited from increased market trading volume, with steady growth in commissions; margin trading and securities lending business saw rising balances as market risk appetite increased, significantly boosting interest income; proprietary trading seized the opportunity of market recovery, optimized investment portfolios, and saw substantial gains, becoming a core driver of securities firms’ performance growth.

Shenwan Hongyuan Securities non-bank chief analyst Luo Zhuanhui believes that the high growth in securities firms’ performance mainly comes from two aspects: one is the brokerage and margin trading businesses closely related to market activity; the other is proprietary trading. The market usually links securities firms’ performance with trading volume and stock-bond asset gains, allowing for forward-looking performance predictions.

Many institutions are optimistic about the performance outlook for 2025 and 2026. Founder Securities non-bank chief analyst Xu Yishan predicts that listed securities firms’ main business revenue will grow by 34% year-on-year in 2025, and net profit attributable to parent will grow by 49%. In terms of business segments, brokerage and investment businesses are expected to be the main drivers of growth.

“The securities sector is experiencing three major marginal improvements, and exceeding expectations in 2026 is worth looking forward to,” said Zhao Ran, chief analyst of non-bank finance and forward-looking research at CITIC Construction Investment. First, the active trading volume in the first half of the year has established a trend of significant year-on-year growth, likely exceeding expectations. Second, the impressive new account opening data at the start of the year may signal a phase of high market sentiment, but long-term, it helps build a foundation of incremental funds for a sustained bull market in A-shares. Third, the marginal expansion of securities firms’ bond financing scale could drive leverage increases and break through industry ROE highs.

Guojin Securities also stated that the trading volume from January to now could support continued growth of securities firms’ performance in the first quarter of 2026—market daily average trading volume of stocks and funds reached 33 trillion yuan in January and February, an 89% increase year-on-year, with profits expected to maintain rapid growth.

Differentiated competition pattern gradually taking shape

Against the overall positive industry backdrop, leading securities firms, with their full-service chain layout and core competitive advantages, further consolidated their market leadership.

CITIC Securities’ key financial indicators in 2025 hit record highs, with annual operating revenue of 20k yuan, up 28.79%; net profit attributable to parent was 150k yuan, up 38.58%. By the end of 2025, CITIC Securities’ total assets exceeded 2 trillion yuan, client asset custody surpassed 15 trillion yuan, asset management scale was about 4.8 trillion yuan, with multiple core businesses ranking first in the industry.

Guotai Huarong, after completing business integration, also delivered an impressive performance. The annual report shows that in 2025, the company achieved operating revenue of 48k yuan, an increase of 87.4% year-on-year; net profit attributable to parent was 63.11B yuan, up 113.52%.

GF Securities also achieved steady growth in 2025. The annual report indicates that GF Securities’ total operating revenue was 27.81B yuan, up 34.33%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 35.49B yuan, up 42.18%.

While leading securities firms drive industry development, a number of small and medium-sized firms focus on niche areas, forming differentiated advantages, with significant performance elasticity. From the disclosed annual reports, many small and medium-sized firms saw net profit growth rates generally higher than the industry average last year, demonstrating the advantages of “small but beautiful” niche development.

Southwest Securities saw leapfrog growth in 2025, with all key indicators soaring. The annual report shows that the company achieved operating revenue of 13.7B yuan, up 25.35%; net profit attributable to parent was 3.21B yuan, up 51.90%. Jiang Donglin, secretary of the party committee and chairman of Southwest Securities, stated that the company is steadily advancing toward the goals of “leading in the West, progressing nationwide, and increasing Chongqing’s recognition,” and that the 2025 performance reflects the company’s strong development momentum.

Mergers and acquisitions also became an important strategy for improving quality and efficiency in the securities industry in 2025. Besides Guotai Huarong, Guolian Minsheng, after completing restructuring and integration, achieved explosive growth in its first full year, with revenue of 1.06B yuan, up 185.99%; net profit attributable to parent was 7.67B yuan, up 405.49%. The five major business segments worked together, with IPO sponsorships and NEEQ listing projects ranking among industry leaders, successfully obtaining key business qualifications, confirming the strategic value of mergers and acquisitions.

Industry development momentum strengthens

Currently, the net profit of the securities industry continues to grow, reaching the 220 billion yuan mark. The China Securities Industry Association’s latest data on securities firms’ operations in 2025 (based on unaudited financial statements) shows that 150 securities firms achieved operating revenue of 2.01B yuan and net profit of 541.17B yuan in 2025.

From different business lines, in 2025, securities firms’ net income from agency securities trading (including trading seat leasing) was 219.44B yuan; securities underwriting and sponsorship net income was 163.8B yuan; financial advisory net income was 33.71B yuan; investment consulting net income was 5.78B yuan; asset management net income was 7.69B yuan; interest net income was 23.89B yuan; securities investment gains (including fair value changes) were 64.69B yuan.

In fact, securities investment income has become an important pillar of securities industry revenue. According to the China Securities Association, as of December 31, 2025, the total principal amount of funds entrusted to securities firms for management reached 9.53 trillion yuan.

With ongoing deepening reforms in the capital market, industry experts believe that leading securities firms’ leading role will become more prominent, and mergers and acquisitions will remain a key path for industry integration, while small and medium-sized firms need to continue developing their differentiation and特色化道路.

CITIC Securities’ chief analyst of financial industry, Tian Liang, stated, “During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the pattern of the securities industry is expected to be deeply reshaped, promoting differentiated development. Securities firms are expected to achieve substantial growth through endogenous growth and mergers and acquisitions, with asset allocation, comprehensive services, and internationalization likely to become decisive factors in industry segmentation.”

AVIC Securities believes that under the policy-driven trend of high-quality development in the securities industry, M&A and restructuring are effective means for securities firms to achieve external expansion. Mergers and acquisitions will play a positive role in enhancing overall industry competitiveness, optimizing resource allocation, and promoting healthy market development. Industry consolidation will also help increase industry concentration and generate scale effects.