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As of now, several securities firms have disclosed their annual reports for 2025. As an important indicator of the capital market's prosperity, the compensation data of securities firms has once again become the focus of market attention.
According to data from Wind and company announcements compiled by Southern Metropolis Bay Finance, after reviewing several leading institutions including CITIC Securities, CICC, GF Securities, Huatai Securities, Shenwan Hongyuan, CITIC Construction Investment, China Merchants Securities, Dongfang Securities, and China Galaxy, it was found that against the backdrop of a warming market and continuous optimization of business structure, the average compensation of leading securities firms showed a comprehensive year-on-year growth trend, with most institutions achieving double-digit increases, and the overall compensation level of the industry returning to an upward trajectory.
Average Compensation of Leading Securities Firms Rises Across the Board
CITIC Securities Tops at 812,800 Yuan
In 2025, the overall activity of the A-share market increased, capital market reforms continued to deepen, and various main business lines of securities firms welcomed a recovery window, which was directly reflected in employee compensation. According to statistical results, all leading listed securities firms achieved positive year-on-year growth in average compensation, with the industry's compensation prosperity significantly rebounding.
In terms of total compensation, the overall compensation expenditure scale of leading securities firms continued to expand. CITIC Securities ranked first in the industry with a total compensation of over 21.784 billion yuan, supported by its large business volume and employee scale; CICC's total compensation exceeded 11.537 billion yuan, and GF Securities' total compensation exceeded 10.664 billion yuan, both maintaining above the 10 billion yuan range. Shenwan Hongyuan, Huatai Securities, and China Merchants Securities also had high total compensation levels, reflecting the continuous increase in overall human resource investment in the industry.
In terms of absolute average compensation, CITIC Securities still firmly holds the top position in the industry, with an average compensation of 812,800 yuan, making it the only institution among the leading securities firms to break the 800,000 yuan mark, continuing its consistent industry-leading position.
CICC follows closely with 799,300 yuan, just a step away from the 800,000 yuan mark, maintaining strong competitiveness among the leading tier. GF Securities also performed well with an average compensation of 772,500 yuan, ranking third. Overall, &#34;CITIC—CICC—GF&#34; forms the first compensation array, with average compensations around 800,000 yuan, widening the gap with other leading institutions.
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In terms of compensation growth rates, leading securities firms showed significant differentiation, with several institutions achieving double-digit growth. CICC led with a year-on-year increase of 24.40%, becoming the fastest-growing leading securities firm; GF Securities also had outstanding growth, with a year-on-year increase of 18.67%; China Merchants Securities followed closely with an increase of 18.21%. Additionally, CITIC Construction Investment and China Galaxy achieved average compensation growth rates of 16.98% and 13.65%, respectively, both realizing rapid recovery
It is worth noting that the per capita salary of several leading securities firms has achieved double-digit growth. However, the growth rate of per capita salary for many securities firms is controlled within the growth rate of net profit attributable to the parent company.
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In addition, the growth of per capita salary for some leading securities firms has been relatively stable. Taking CITIC Securities as an example, its net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company reached 30.076 billion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 38.58%, but the growth rate of per capita salary was only 4.23%. Larger institutions like CITIC Securities have a relatively moderate growth rate, maintaining steady growth overall, reflecting that large securities firms pay more attention to long-term stability and controllable costs in salary management.
Continuous Optimization of Personnel Structure
&#34;Quality Improvement and Efficiency Enhancement&#34; Becomes a Common Choice
In response to the rising salary levels, leading securities firms in 2025 generally show a stable yet adjusted characteristic in employee scale. Many institutions did not blindly expand their workforce but achieved an increase in per capita efficiency through streamlining adjustments.
From the changes in employee numbers, there are significant differences among leading securities firms. CITIC Securities maintained a stable total number of employees, with only a slight increase of 42 people compared to the previous year, reflecting stability in personnel management. On the other hand, Dongfang Caifu Securities saw a relatively significant increase in total employees, growing by 843 people compared to the end of 2024.
Apart from the aforementioned securities firms, the other eight leading firms also demonstrated a trend of optimizing personnel structure adjustments. Among them, Huatai Securities reduced its workforce by 1,453 people, while China Galaxy, CITIC Jianchao, GF Securities, CICC, and Dongfang Securities had overall adjustment numbers between 300 and 500 people.
With the total salary amount increasing and a slight contraction in employee numbers, the per capita salary naturally saw a significant rise, which also indirectly confirms that leading securities firms are advancing the strategy of &#34;reducing staff and increasing efficiency, optimizing positions and increasing efficiency.&#34;
Overall, the personnel management approach of leading securities firms in 2025 is clearer: first, control the total number to avoid cost pressure from disorderly expansion; second, optimize the structure, leaning towards core businesses such as investment banking, research, financial technology, and wealth management; third, enhance per capita output, allowing fewer people to create higher value through business upgrades and digital transformation.
This pattern of &#34;stable personnel, rising salaries&#34; marks a shift in the securities industry from the past reliance on extensive expansion through a large workforce to a high-quality development model relying on professional capabilities and technological empowerment.
Market Prosperity Recovers
Performance Recovery Solidifies Salary Foundation
In 2025, the overall rise in securities firm salaries is fundamentally due to a significant recovery in industry operating performance. Driven by multiple factors such as the rebound in market trading volume, the normalization of investment banking business, the expansion of asset management scale, and the increase in institutional business demand, the revenue and profits of securities companies have generally improved, providing solid support for salary distribution.
From the perspective of major stock indices, although there was some differentiation in performance in 2025, the overall performance was positive, with the Shanghai Composite Index rising by 18%, the Shenzhen Component Index rising by 30%, and the ChiNext Index rising by 50%
Under active market sentiment, the total transaction volume of A-shares for the year exceeded 400 trillion yuan, with an average daily transaction volume of 17.3 trillion yuan, both setting historical highs, and the average daily transaction volume increased by 63% compared to 2024.
In addition, the scale of institutional investors continued to expand, with 1.17 trillion shares of new public funds established in 2025, and the net asset value further increased, with the total market ETF net asset value exceeding 6 trillion yuan by the end of the year. On the other hand, individual investors also remained active, with the number of new A-share accounts on the Shanghai Stock Exchange reaching 27.436 million in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 9.8%; by the end of 2025, the balance of margin financing and securities lending in the A-share market reached 2.54 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.68 trillion yuan compared to the end of 2024.
In terms of the IPO market, the A-share IPO market showed signs of recovery, with financing scale increasing by 96% year-on-year to 131.8 billion yuan. Meanwhile, against the backdrop of asset revaluation in China and the rising enthusiasm for domestic companies to list in Hong Kong, the performance of the Hong Kong stock market's primary and secondary markets was impressive, with Hong Kong IPO financing scale increasing by 226% year-on-year to 36.8 billion USD, and the average daily transaction volume increasing by 90% year-on-year to 249.8 billion HKD.
In this context, the brokerage industry's brokerage income and investment income saw significant year-on-year increases, and investment banking business also experienced marginal improvements, jointly driving a significant year-on-year growth in overall industry profitability, which also provided a basis for the growth of per capita compensation in the industry.
At the same time, digital transformation is profoundly affecting the compensation structure of brokerages. In recent years, leading brokerages have generally increased their investment in information technology, big data, artificial intelligence, and other fields, leading to a surge in demand for talent in technology development, algorithm research, and system architecture. These positions have high salary levels and rapid growth rates, becoming an important force driving the increase in per capita compensation. The salary gap between traditional and emerging businesses is gradually widening, reflecting the industry's trend towards technology-driven and professionally-driven transformation.
Notes:
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In this report, the calculation method for total compensation is: (cash paid to employees plus cash paid for employees + end-of-period payable employee compensation - beginning-of-period payable employee compensation) / [(beginning-of-period employee count + end-of-period employee count) / 2].
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Guotai Haitong Securities completed a merger of enterprises under non-similar control on March 14, 2025, and the comparable period data for its 2025 financial report is based on the financial data of the original Guotai Junan, thus lacking effective data for payable employee compensation in 2024 and is not included in this calculation.
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Written by: Nandu · Bay Finance Society reporter Wu Hongsen

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As of now, several brokerage firms have disclosed their annual reports for 2025, and the compensation data of brokers has become a focal point in the market. Leading brokerage firms have seen a comprehensive year-on-year increase in average compensation, with CITIC Securities topping the list at 812,800 yuan, with total compensation exceeding 21.784 billion yuan. CICC and GF SEC follow closely, with average compensations of 799,300 yuan and 772,500 yuan, respectively. Overall, the industry's compensation level has rebounded, and the scale of compensation expenditure has expanded, reflecting a continuous increase in human resource investment in the industry

腾讯新闻 - 财经

Hwabao WP CSI All Share Investment Banking & Brokerage ETF

GF SECURITIES

GF Fund CSI HK Connect Financials(ex Banks) Thematic ETF

CICC

Yinhua CSI All Share Investment Banking & Brokerage ETF

Guotai CSI All Share Investment Banking & Brokerage ETF

E Fund CSI Hongkong Bond Investment Theme ETF

CITIC Securities Co., Ltd.

GF SEC

CITIC SEC

E Fund CSI 300 Financials (ex Banks) ETF

Top securities firms' average salary review: collective increase, CITIC Securities leads with an annual salary of 810,000