Mainland brokerage firms have established 36 overseas subsidiaries, and international expansion has become a key focus, with leading revenue accounting for one-third.

Cailian Press, April 8 (Reporter Wang Chen)
In 2025, as the dual-way opening of the capital market continues to deepen, securities firms’ international performance and business have achieved a critical breakthrough.

The latest data from the China Securities Association shows that by the end of 2025, 34 mainland securities firms had established a total of 36 overseas subsidiaries, with total assets of 1.94 trillion Hong Kong dollars (approximately 1.78 trillion RMB), a year-on-year increase of 31.95%;
Annual operating income reached 19.4k Hong Kong dollars (about 17.8k RMB), a 6.15% increase year-on-year.

From a regulatory perspective, international business for securities firms is a key tool to serve Chinese enterprises going abroad and global deployment.
In December 2025, CSRC Chairman Wu Qing explicitly emphasized that securities institutions need to enhance cross-border financial comprehensive service capabilities, adhere to high-level “going out” and high-quality “bringing in,”
to help build top-tier international investment banks with global capital allocation ability and asset pricing discourse power.

What is even more noteworthy is that leading securities firms’ overseas subsidiaries generally have ROE higher than the consolidated level.
In 2025, CITIC Securities International’s ROE reached 25%, and CICC International’s ROE was 15.86%, both above the consolidated figures.
Thanks to the characteristics of “high profitability efficiency + high leverage,” overseas operations demonstrate strong profit-making ability.

In fact, the international business of securities firms has evolved from early “exploratory layouts” to an important pillar of performance growth, especially for leading firms, as reflected in their 2025 annual reports.
From the 2025 annual report data, six major highlights of securities firms’ international business are worth noting:

1. International business revenue hits new highs, with leading firms’ advantages continuing to expand

Based on the disclosed 2025 annual data, Chinese securities firms’ international business shows a “winner takes all” pattern.

CITIC Securities continues to lead the industry with international business revenue of 45.23B RMB, a 41.75% increase year-on-year, and is the only securities firm to surpass 15 billion RMB in international revenue.

Guotai Haitong, benefiting from synergies after mergers, reached 41.44B RMB in international business revenue, a 229.49% increase.

CICC’s international business revenue was 15.52B RMB, up 58.11%, maintaining steady high growth.

Huatai Securities’ international revenue was 9.59B RMB, down 46.75%, mainly due to a one-time gain/loss from AssetMark disposal in 2024.
Excluding this impact, actual international revenue growth was 23.82%.

The top four firms’ international business revenue totaled 39.4 billion RMB, further increasing market concentration.
This high concentration stems from early license resource accumulation, client networks, and regulatory communication experience of leading firms, creating barriers that later entrants find difficult to surpass.

It is noteworthy that, beyond the top four, many other securities firms have also achieved leapfrog growth.
GF Securities’ international revenue approached 2.7 billion RMB, doubling compared to the previous year;
CITIC Construction Investment’s international revenue reached 8.39B RMB, up 102.69%;
Founder Securities’ international revenue grew 121.17%;
CICC, Shenwan Hongyuan, Huaxin Securities’ international revenues all increased by over 50%.
Although the concentration remains high, more Chinese securities firms are accelerating their internationalization efforts, trying to carve out a share in overseas markets.

2. The contribution of international business to revenue has significantly increased

International business is not only a profit growth point but also continues to raise its weight in the overall revenue structure of securities firms.
Data shows that in 2025, the international business revenue of the top four firms each accounted for more than 10% of their total revenue.

CICC leads with 29.47%, nearly one-third of its income coming from overseas;
CITIC Securities accounts for 20.73%, Huatai Securities 16.53%, Guotai Haitong 15.19%.
GF Securities, China Galaxy, CITIC Construction Investment’s international revenues also each exceed 5%.

Compared to 2024, most securities firms saw an increase in the proportion of international business revenue.
Guotai Haitong’s share increased by 8.49%, CICC by 4.59%, CITIC Securities by 3.57%, and others including GF Securities, China Galaxy, CITIC Construction Investment, Shenwan Hongyuan, Orient Securities, East Money, Hu’an Securities, Dongxing Securities, Industrial Securities, Everbright Securities, and Founder Securities all saw varying degrees of growth.
Offshore business is transforming into one of the “engines” driving overall growth for securities firms.

3. Support for international business has significantly increased, especially in capital investment

To support rapid overseas expansion, Chinese securities firms launched a new wave of capital injections into overseas subsidiaries in 2025, with frequent capital increases and guarantees.

China Merchants Securities announced in December 2025 that it agreed to increase capital in its wholly-owned subsidiary through Zhaozheng International by no more than 9 billion HKD, with the first phase not exceeding 4 billion HKD.

CITIC Construction Investment, having already increased 3 billion HKD in 2017 and 2021, approved an additional 1.5 billion HKD in 2025.

Dongwu Securities plans to increase capital by no more than 2 billion HKD or equivalent RMB into Dongwu Securities (Hong Kong) Financial Holdings.

Hu’an Securities plans to inject 500 million HKD into Hu’an Securities (Hong Kong) Financial Holdings.

Dongxing Securities completed a 300 million HKD capital increase into its wholly-owned subsidiary Dongxing Securities (Hong Kong) in 2025.

Shanxi Securities plans to increase capital by 1 billion HKD into Shan Securities International to promote cross-border integration, strengthen Hong Kong subsidiary’s capital, and reduce financing costs.

Entering 2026, the capital support from securities firms continues to grow.
In January, Huatai Securities disclosed plans to increase capital into Huatai International by no more than 9 billion HKD;
GF Securities announced that its placement of H-shares and issuance of H-share convertible bonds had been completed, raising over 6.1 billion HKD, all to be used for capital increases into overseas subsidiaries, focusing on cross-border transactions, institutional business, and international investment banking.
This large-scale, frequent capital injection reflects firms’ confidence in overseas prospects and their strategic determination to build international competitiveness with real capital.

4. Investment banking business surges

In 2025, the Hong Kong capital market experienced explosive growth, providing unprecedented opportunities for Chinese securities firms’ overseas investment banking.
Leveraging deep understanding of domestic enterprises and the unique advantage of domestic-international linkage, firms dominated underwriting, sponsorship, cross-border M&A, and offshore bonds.

Looking at specific performances:
CICC continued to maintain an absolute leading position in Hong Kong IPO underwriting.
In 2025, CICC ranked first in both Hong Kong IPO underwriting and sponsorship.
This comprehensive leadership makes CICC almost a “standard” service provider for Hong Kong IPOs.

CITIC Securities’ cross-border capital operation capabilities continued to improve, ranking second in Hong Kong IPO sponsorship, first in offshore bond underwriting, and first in global M&A transactions involving Chinese enterprises.
It also completed multiple IPOs, placements, and cross-border M&A deals in Southeast Asia, India, Europe, Japan, and Australia, demonstrating broad and deep global deployment.

Huatai Securities’ Huatai Financial (Hong Kong) completed 22 Hong Kong IPO sponsorship projects, ranking third in the market.
China Galaxy’s integrated investment banking operations performed effectively, with Hong Kong IPO sponsorship ranking in the top ten for the first time, fourth among Chinese securities firms in project participation, and fifth in offshore bond issuance.
China Merchants Securities completed 7 Hong Kong IPO projects, with underwriting amounts of $422 million, a 251.31% increase, and the number of Hong Kong listing applications submitted to HKEX increased multiple times.

5. Wealth management cross-border service capabilities are comprehensively enhanced

While investment banking soars, wealth management is becoming the second engine for securities firms’ international business growth.
Many firms achieved breakthrough development in overseas wealth management in 2025, with significant growth in product systems, client scale, and custodial assets.

Meanwhile, Chinese securities firms’ overseas wealth management is evolving into comprehensive wealth management platforms, with innovations like family offices, full-power entrusted accounts, and cross-border wealth management connect programs, continuously improving product supply and client service quality.

CITIC Securities’ product sales and holdings doubled.
Focusing on Asia-Pacific and major global financial markets, the firm has built a cross-regional, cross-market, and cross-asset wealth management and comprehensive service platform, providing diversified, personalized, and global asset allocation solutions for high-net-worth clients and institutional investors worldwide.
This transformation also indicates the upgrade direction of Chinese securities firms’ wealth management.

Guotai Haitong’s Guotai Junan International completed a “platform + products” upgrade, creating personalized allocation advantages, making breakthroughs in high-end family office services, with product scale soaring and custodial assets steadily growing.

Huatai Securities’ “Zhang Le Global” continues to optimize client acquisition quality, with further growth in wealth product sales.
GF Securities further enriches product offerings, continues its transition to wealth management, with increases in revenue, custodial assets, product holdings, and high-net-worth client scale.

China Merchants Securities’ Zhaozheng International focuses on enhancing global trading and cross-border financial services, with custodial assets reaching 5.92B HKD, a 24.64% increase from 2024;
market trading volume in Hong Kong surged, and market rankings improved accordingly.

6. “Bring in” and “Go out” services, global deployment continues to expand

In 2025, while deeply cultivating the Hong Kong market, leading Chinese securities firms are looking at a broader international stage, accelerating global deployment through acquisitions, new establishments, and strategic cooperation, actively practicing the national strategies of “bringing in” and “going out.”

CITIC Securities International capital centers on Hong Kong, leveraging CITIC Securities’ China market advantages, systematically deploying “industry going out” and “capital going out.”
The former focuses on systematic investment opportunities brought by business extension during Chinese enterprises’ internationalization;
the latter targets systematic investment opportunities for Chinese companies entering overseas capital markets.

CITIC Securities continues to develop technology sector investments through the Asia Strategy USD Fund CAGF, conducting joint investments in high-end manufacturing, information technology, new energy, biotech, and other strategic emerging industries, supporting real economy development with capital, and aiding high-quality Chinese enterprises in global industrial chain development and business expansion.

CICC deepens cross-border linkage advantages, high-quality practice of “bringing in” and “going out.”
The company assists regulators and key clients with international roadshows, invites overseas clients for research in China, supports listed companies’ overseas roadshows, and promotes Chinese stories and capital markets stories globally.
Domestic and foreign teams coordinate on multiple primary and secondary market projects, attracting foreign strategic and cornerstone investors, and bringing long-term funds into the market.
Meanwhile, CICC focuses on expanding clients in emerging markets and along the Belt and Road, helping to grow overseas business and improve comprehensive client service levels.

In subsidiaries, Guotai Haitong steadily advances acquisitions of Indonesian securities firms to position in Southeast Asia.
Huatai International officially registers a Japanese subsidiary, extending its business to the world’s third-largest economy.

Galaxy Securities deepens cooperation between China and ASEAN capital markets, playing a bridge role to support high-quality development of the “Belt and Road.”
Galaxy International participated in organizing the “First Malaysia Economic Forum,” “2025 ASEAN Investment Forum,” and other high-level events, providing strong support for Chinese enterprises “going out.”
The company also successfully hosted activities linking Chinese companies with Singapore, and organized overseas institutional investor visits to China, effectively promoting two-way capital flows between domestic and international markets.

(Reporter Wang Chen, Cailian News)