In the business landscape of securities firms, investment business is the area most directly related to performance and capability.
Brokerage business relies on historical customer and outlet resources, investment banking business places great importance on company brand and shareholder resources, margin financing and securities lending business requires an advantage in funding costs, while &#34;proprietary investment&#34; (some companies call it trading business) relies 99% on the investment team's cognition and judgment to &#34;determine the outcome.&#34;
This is the battlefield where securities giants engage in fierce competition, a core battleground where the capabilities of the investment team and the company's commitment to investment work together to achieve performance &#34;explanation.&#34;
In this battlefield, what kind of securities firms hold more advantages?
What strategies do they employ to achieve these gains?
It is indeed a very interesting topic······
<h2>CITIC Securities and Guotai Haitong firmly hold the &#34;champion&#34; and &#34;runner-up&#34; positions</h2>
In the mainland securities industry of 2025, a &#34;dual hegemony&#34; pattern is gradually forming in many business arenas. One is CITIC Securities, the long-standing &#34;brokerage king&#34; (industry leader), and the other is Guotai Haitong, formed by the merger of two old powerhouses in Shanghai.
In the first half of 2025, among the proprietary earnings of listed securities firms, this &#34;dragon and tiger competition&#34; situation is evident between these two firms.
According to statistics from Wind data, CITIC Securities topped the investment rankings in the first half of the year, with a net investment income of 20.899 billion yuan, continuing to hold the title of &#34;industry leader.&#34;
CITIC Securities has a historical yield with multiple teams involved in investment management, with a relatively mature system for risk control, specific business execution, and assessment. Ultimately, it was expected that their investment business would earn nearly 100 million yuan daily in the first half of the year.
Guotai Haitong secured the second place in the &#34;100 billion club&#34; with 12.701 billion yuan, although it lagged nearly 40% behind the industry leader, it still significantly outperformed other institutions ranked lower (see the chart below), reflecting the strength of Guotai Haitong post-merger.
Additionally, it must be pointed out that the first half of 2025 coincided with the peak of Guotai Haitong's &#34;absorption merger,&#34; during which the scale of proprietary investment is typically not too large. Therefore, achieving over 10 billion yuan in earnings is quite remarkable.
CITIC Securities and Guotai Haitong became the &#34;only two&#34; securities firms to earn over 10 billion yuan in the first half of the year, and they are expected to continue their &#34;dragon and tiger competition&#34; in this field.
<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://wpimg-wscn.awtmt.com/57195bce-20c7-47f9-ba43-549720e6eabd.jpeg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://wpimg-wscn.awtmt.com/57195bce-20c7-47f9-ba43-549720e6eabd.jpeg"/>
<h2>The &#34;first group&#34; shows strong strength</h2>
In addition to CITIC and Guotai Haitong, the proprietary &#34;first legion&#34; formed by the top ten securities firms also performed well.
According to WIND statistics, the ranking of net investment income for securities firms from third to tenth in the industry in the first half of 2025 is as follows:
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>
Huatai Securities (9.170 billion yuan);
</li>
<li>
China International Capital Corporation (8.419 billion yuan);
</li>
<li>
Shenwan Hongyuan (7.710 billion yuan);
</li>
<li>
China Galaxy (7.255 billion yuan);
</li>
<li>
China Merchants Securities (5.256 billion yuan);
</li>
<li>
Guotai Securities (5.056 billion yuan);
</li>
<li>
GF Securities (4.876 billion yuan);
</li>
<li>
CITIC Construction Investment (4.609 billion yuan).
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
These can be roughly divided into two &#34;running groups&#34;; Huatai Securities, China International Capital Corporation, Shenwan Hongyuan, and Galaxy Securities have larger proprietary investments and higher returns.
In comparison, China Merchants Securities, Guotai Securities, GF Securities, and CITIC Construction Investment are relatively more cautious.
However, overall, managing and operating assets to create tens of billions to hundreds of billions in investment returns is indeed not easy. The aforementioned &#34;first group&#34; of proprietary trading in the industry must have a systematic, professional, and complete investment research and trading team, as well as business leaders trusted by the management to achieve this.
<h2>How Do &#34;Leading Securities Firms&#34; Make Money</h2>
So, how do leading securities firms achieve such high returns?
Public information can provide some clues.
According to industry insiders: the proprietary investments of securities firms include not only directional asset investments such as long positions in stocks and bonds but also a large amount of non-directional allocations and investments, such as derivatives and quantitative products.
Additionally, the reimbursements in investment banking business and the strategic equity holdings of some companies can also affect the current financial performance.
Moreover, the &#34;investment income&#34; item in the financial report is not limited to the returns from proprietary investments in stocks, bonds, funds, and other financial instruments, but also includes investment returns from subsidiaries and affiliated enterprises.
Of course, from a business structure perspective, the truly dominant role still belongs to proprietary investments, which directly determine the quality and volatility of a securities firm's investment returns.
<h2>Collective Upgrade of Investment Income</h2>
The Wall Street Journal's Zhitang team also observed that compared to the same period in 2024, this year's net investment income of securities firms has almost shown a &#34;collective upgrade.&#34;
With the systematic improvement of the A-share market— the Shanghai Composite Index reaching a new high in ten years, and the trading volume of the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets repeatedly exceeding the &#34;trillion&#34; mark— the profit-making effect has significantly increased, providing a rare stage for the proprietary investment business of securities firms.
The most obvious example is CITIC Securities, whose net investment income was still hovering below the 10 billion yuan threshold in the same period last year, but surged to over 20 billion yuan in the first half of this year, equivalent to the total profit of a medium-sized securities firm earned in half a year.
<blockquote>
CITIC Securities explained in its semi-annual report: &#34;The investment income from financial instruments held during the holding period and disposal has increased.&#34;
This can be translated as: The returns from financial instruments such as stocks and bonds held, whether earned during the holding period or profits obtained upon sale, have significantly increased compared to last year.
</blockquote>
Guotai Haitong also performed remarkably: its income in the first half of last year was less than 3 billion yuan, while this year's first half saw a year-on-year increase of over 300%, a true &#34;triple jump.&#34;
The performance of Galaxy Securities can be described as &#34;a complete transformation.&#34; The net investment income of this securities firm soared from less than 200 million yuan in the first half of last year to 7.255 billion yuan in the first half of this year.
“(Equity investment trading business) accurately grasping market trends, focusing on strengthening forward-looking research in advanced technology fields such as AI chips, quantum computing, biomedicine, new energy materials, and aerospace technology, and investing in related industrial chains and individual stocks.”
Galaxy Securities wrote in its latest semi-annual report.
<h2>&#34;Second Tier&#34; Turns from Loss to Profit</h2>
Unlike the overall profits of the first group. The investment rankings from the 11th to the 20th brokers present a different landscape—an effect of scar repair brought about by the warming market.
Among them, Dongfang Securities and Guotai Capital have maintained steady growth in net investment income, with the latter achieving a more than twofold increase, which can be described as a &#34;leapfrog&#34; advancement.
What is even more noteworthy is that institutions that were still &#34;losing&#34; last year—Industrial Securities, Guolian Minsheng, and Caitong Securities—have successfully turned profitable in their recent semi-annual reports.
For example, Industrial Securities noted in its semi-annual report: &#34;By optimizing the holding structure, selecting quality industries, and enriching the investment strategy portfolio, we effectively reduced the volatility and drawdown levels of our holdings, with relative performance ranking among comparable funds, and achieved good absolute returns.&#34;
Clearly, behind this is the entire team's ability to seize investment opportunities and repair historical losses after the market improved, resulting in a &#34;turnaround&#34; victory.
With the &#34;comeback&#34; in earnings, these institutions have generally achieved more and higher multiples of net profit performance. Although the absolute scale of these institutions' performance is not as large as that of the top firms, the year-on-year improvement is equally remarkable.
<h2>Nearly 30 Brokers Enter the &#34;Ten Billion Club&#34;</h2>
The top 30 institutions in the &#34;middle tier&#34; of the industry also have their unique performances.
According to financial data, these brokers have just entered the &#34;ten billion investment income club.&#34; Their investment income and industry performance are likely more dependent on key projects and the performance of core teams.
For instance, Everbright Securities had only single-digit earnings in the same period last year, but surged to over one billion in the first half of this year, showing significant growth;
Zheshang Securities is also a typical representative, jumping from meager earnings last year to over one billion, achieving a &#34;scale leap.&#34;
It is also worth mentioning Changjiang Securities, which was still in the red during the same period last year, but has now stabilized into profit and entered the ten billion club. This turnaround from negative to positive itself illustrates the power of market recovery.
Looking at Huazhang Securities, Dongxing Securities, and others, which had only a few billion in scale last year, they have also climbed to over ten billion this year, nearly doubling their improvement.
Additionally, firms like Zhongtai Securities, Guojin Securities, and Xinda Securities have successfully achieved significant year-on-year increases.
Overall, the rankings from 21st to 30th appear more like &#34;young players&#34; stepping into the &#34;advanced arena&#34;: some have doubled their performance, while others have turned losses into profits, further proving that once the market warms up, not only do top brokers benefit, but the mid-tier also has the opportunity for explosive growth—perhaps even enjoying greater performance elasticity.
<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://wpimg-wscn.awtmt.com/e6a5c3bf-351c-4f53-9949-fe09edd01b4e.jpeg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://wpimg-wscn.awtmt.com/e6a5c3bf-351c-4f53-9949-fe09edd01b4e.jpeg"/>
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In the first half of 2025, CITIC Securities Co., Ltd. and Guotai Haitong performed outstandingly in brokerage proprietary investment income, ranking first and second in the industry with net earnings of 20.899 billion yuan and 12.701 billion yuan, respectively. CITIC Securities, with its mature investment management system, earns nearly 100 million yuan almost daily, while Guotai Haitong has demonstrated strong capabilities post-merger, achieving a hundred billion yuan in earnings despite the challenges of the merger period. Both are expected to continue competing in the future

- In 2025, the Chinese securities industry sees a competitive landscape dominated by CITIC Securities and Guotai Junan, with both firms achieving over 100 billion yuan in investment income.  
- CITIC Securities leads with 208.99 billion yuan, benefiting from a mature investment management system, while Guotai Junan, despite a significant gap, shows strong performance post-merger.  
- The overall market recovery has led to increased investment returns across the sector, with many firms transitioning from losses to profitability, highlighting the potential for growth in the mid-tier brokerage segment.

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