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

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Source: Economic Information Daily

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

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

8 firms with net profit attributable to parent exceeding 440.06B yuan

As of March 31, when this article was published, 26 listed brokerages including CITIC Securities, Guotai Huarong Securities, Huatai Securities, CICC, and GF Securities had disclosed their 2025 annual reports. Against the backdrop of significantly increased activity in the capital markets in 2025, the performance of these brokerages generally showed growth.

Wind data indicates that the 26 listed brokerages achieved a combined operating revenue of 395.52B yuan in 2025, an 11.26% increase from 185.06B yuan in 2024; and a net profit attributable to parent of 127.98B yuan, a 44.61% surge from 33k yuan in 2024. Fourteen brokerages had operating revenues over 100 billion yuan, up from 12 in 2024; and 8 had net profits attributable to parent exceeding 10 billion yuan, a notable increase from 5 in 2024.

Regarding the reasons for high performance growth, China Securities Securities analyst believes that in 2025, domestic capital market activity remained active, with the equity market gradually warming. The trading volume in Shanghai and Shenzhen increased significantly compared to the previous year, driving comprehensive improvement in core brokerage businesses. Specifically, 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 recovered, significantly boosting interest income; proprietary trading seized the opportunity of market recovery, optimized investment portfolios, and saw substantial gains, becoming a core driver of brokerage performance growth.

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

Many institutions are optimistic about the performance outlook for the securities industry in 2025 and 2026. Founder Securities non-bank chief analyst Xu Yishan predicts that listed brokerages’ main business revenue will grow by 34% year-on-year in 2025, with net profit attributable to parent increasing 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 positive marginal changes, and performance exceeding expectations in 2026 is worth looking forward to,” said Zhao Ran, Chief Analyst of Non-Banking Financials and Forward-Looking Research at CITIC Construction Investment. He pointed out that: first, the active trading volume in the first half of the year has established a trend of significant year-on-year increase, with full-year growth possibly exceeding expectations. Second, the impressive new account opening data at the start of the year may signal a high market sentiment phase, but long-term, it helps build a foundation of incremental funds for a slow bull market in A-shares, continuously injecting long-term momentum. Third, the marginal expansion of brokerages’ bond issuance 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 brokerage performance in the first quarter of 2026—specifically, the daily average stock and fund trading volume across the market in January and February reached 33 trillion yuan, 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 brokerages, 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 of 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, and asset management scale was about 4.8 trillion yuan, with multiple core businesses ranking first in the industry.

Guotai Huarong Securities, 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 87.4% increase; and net profit attributable to parent of 63.11B yuan, up 113.52%.

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

While leading brokerages drive industry development, a number of small- and medium-sized brokerages are deeply cultivating niche fields, forming differentiated advantages, with significant performance flexibility. From the disclosed annual reports, many small- and medium-sized brokerages saw their net profit growth rates generally surpass the industry average last year, demonstrating the “small but beautiful” niche development advantage.

Southwest Securities’ 2025 performance saw leapfrog growth, with key indicators all turning positive. The annual report shows that the company achieved operating revenue of 13.7B yuan, up 25.35%; net profit attributable to parent of 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 goal of “leading in the West, progressing nationwide, and increasing Chongqing’s recognition,” and that 2025’s results reflect 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 Securities, Guolian Minsheng achieved explosive growth in its first full year after restructuring. In 2025, the company’s operating revenue reached 1.06B yuan, up 185.99%; and net profit attributable to parent was 7.67B yuan, up 405.49%. The five major business segments worked together, with IPO sponsorships and New Third Board listings 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 companies’ 2025 operations (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; net interest income was 23.89B yuan; and securities investment gains (including fair value changes) totaled 64.69B yuan.

In fact, securities investment income has become an important pillar of the industry’s revenue. According to the China Securities Association, as of December 31, 2025, the total principal of entrusted funds managed by 150 securities firms reached 9.53 trillion yuan.

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

Tian Liang, Chief Analyst of Financial Industry at CITIC Securities, stated, “During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the pattern of the securities industry is expected to be deeply reshaped, promoting differentiated development. Brokerages are expected to achieve substantial growth through internal growth and mergers and acquisitions, with asset allocation, comprehensive services, and internationalization likely to become decisive factors in industry segmentation.”

China Securities Securities believes that under the policy-driven trend of high-quality development in the securities industry, mergers and acquisitions are an effective means for brokerages to achieve external expansion. Such activities will positively impact overall industry competitiveness, resource allocation, and market health, while industry consolidation will also help increase industry concentration and create scale effects.