Quietly earning 30 billion! CITIC Securities' mysterious business growth exceeds 200%, with proprietary trading becoming the strongest money printer.

Produced by | Zhongfang Network

Reviewed by | Li Xiaoyan

On the evening of March 26, CITIC Securities, known as the “king of brokerages,” officially disclosed its 2025 annual report. This report, presented at a critical juncture marking the company’s 30th anniversary, showcases the robust strength and development vitality of an industry leader. The annual report data reveals that CITIC Securities achieved record highs in both revenue and net profit for 2025, with comprehensive growth in core businesses, self-operated business continuing to drive profitability, astonishing growth in emerging businesses, and flourishing in wealth management, equity investment, and cross-border businesses. Not only did it deliver the best performance in history, but it also solidified its leading position in the industry with strong comprehensive strength, setting a benchmark for high-quality development in the securities industry.

Record High Performance: Revenue and Net Profit Growth Demonstrates Core Strength

In 2025, CITIC Securities experienced a leap in operational performance, refreshing multiple core financial indicators to set historical records. The annual report shows that the company achieved an annual operating revenue of 74.854 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.79%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company surpassed 30 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 30.076 billion yuan, a significant year-on-year growth of 38.58%. The growth rate of profit far exceeded that of revenue, reflecting the continuous improvement in the company’s profitability efficiency and the ongoing optimization of operational quality.

In terms of asset scale, CITIC Securities continued to expand steadily. By the end of 2025, the company’s total assets reached 2.08 trillion yuan, an increase of 21.70% from the end of the previous year, successfully entering the 2 trillion yuan asset tier; the equity attributable to shareholders of the parent company was 319.93 billion yuan, a year-to-date increase of 9.15%, further solidifying its capital strength, with enhanced risk resistance and business expansion capabilities. From a quarterly performance perspective, the company exhibited balanced growth, achieving an operating revenue of 23.019 billion yuan and a net profit of 9.621 billion yuan in the third quarter, both of which were the highest for any single quarter of the year, demonstrating strong operational resilience and market adaptability.

It is noteworthy that while achieving high growth in performance, CITIC Securities’ profitability indicators continued to optimize, with basic earnings per share of 1.96 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 39.01%; the weighted average return on net assets was 10.59%, an increase of 2.50 percentage points year-on-year, significantly enhancing shareholder return capabilities, fully reflecting the company’s efficient asset operation level and outstanding profitability.

Self-Operated Business Becomes a “Cash Printing Machine”: Diverse Business Segments Flourish

As one of the core segments of brokerage profitability, CITIC Securities’ securities investment (self-operated) business performed exceptionally well in 2025, becoming the core engine driving revenue growth. The annual report data shows that the company’s securities investment business achieved an annual revenue of 27.605 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.83%, with the revenue scale ranking first among all main businesses, making it the company’s “self-operated cash printing machine.”

In terms of self-operated investment strategy, CITIC Securities adheres to a balance of stability and innovation, continuously enhancing trading capabilities in bonds, foreign exchange, commodities, and various FICC derivatives through strengthened multi-asset allocation and multi-strategy iteration. The equity and alternative investment business focuses on large capacity, multi-strategy, and low volatility goals, building a platform-based system to optimize asset allocation. At the same time, the company closely follows market trends, focuses on the fundamentals of listed companies, increases the allocation of large blue-chip companies in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong, and aligns with the direction of new productivity development to invest in high-quality industries, while also integrating artificial intelligence technology into investment strategies and establishing a cross-border investment platform in Hong Kong, achieving steady profits in its self-operated business through professional investment capabilities and precise market judgment.

In addition to the self-operated business, all major traditional core businesses of CITIC Securities achieved steady growth, forming a comprehensive positive development pattern. Brokerage business, as the income cornerstone, achieved an annual revenue of 20.787 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.55%, relying on a large customer base and high-quality service system to maintain its industry-leading position; asset management business realized revenue of 14.294 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.59%, with continuously improving active management capabilities and a steadily enhancing product system; the securities underwriting business performed outstandingly, achieving revenue of 6.055 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 50.12%, further consolidating the leading advantage in investment banking.

Particularly noteworthy is that the company’s “other business” became the largest growth highlight, achieving revenue of 6.113 billion yuan, a year-on-year surge of 203.38%, becoming a new engine for revenue growth. The rapid growth of this business reflects not only the foresight and diversification of CITIC Securities’ business layout but also showcases the company’s strong ability to identify new growth points in emerging businesses and broaden profit channels, injecting new vitality into long-term development.

Strategic Layout Precision Strikes: Dual Breakthroughs in Wealth Management and Equity Investment

While core businesses grow steadily, CITIC Securities focuses on long-term strategy, continuously delving into key areas such as wealth management and equity investment, achieving breakthrough progress and laying a solid foundation for long-term business development.

As a key focus of the company’s long-term strategy, the wealth management business rapidly developed in 2025, leveraging favorable opportunities in the A-share market. By the end of the year, CITIC Securities’ wealth management system held more than 800 billion yuan in financial products, accumulating over 17 million clients, a 10% increase from the end of the previous year; the scale of client assets under custody surpassed 15 trillion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 24%, with both client numbers and asset scale achieving substantial growth, building a solid foundation for wealth management business and providing continuous growth momentum for brokerage and asset management businesses.

In the equity investment sector, CITIC Securities’ private equity platform, CITIC Jinshi, performed outstandingly, increasing efforts to develop financial investors in 2025, launching new acquisition strategies and establishing acquisition funds, with new fund registrations totaling 11.05 billion yuan for the year. The company closely aligns with national strategic directions, focusing on hard technology and long-term value investments, laying out key areas of new productivity such as embodied intelligence, semiconductor equipment, domestic GPUs, and domestic servers to support technology independence and self-reliance. Meanwhile, its real estate investment platform has established approximately 43.366 billion yuan in real estate private equity funds, with an additional 4.3 billion yuan registered in 2025, focusing on shopping centers and affordable rental housing, achieving a balance between financial returns and social responsibility.

In terms of investment banking, CITIC Securities continues to lead the industry, completing 72 main underwriting projects in the A-share market in 2025, with an underwriting scale of 270.646 billion yuan and a market share of 24.36%, firmly holding the top position in the industry. Among these, the exclusively sponsored IPO of Moer Thread became the largest IPO on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board in 2025. Additionally, the company ranks among the industry leaders in Hong Kong IPOs, offshore bond underwriting, and cross-border M&A, completing several significant merger and acquisition projects such as the stock swap of China Shipbuilding absorbing China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, fully demonstrating top-notch investment banking expertise and market influence.

Record Shareholder Returns: Steady Operations Safeguard Long-Term Development

As a responsible industry leader, CITIC Securities has always placed great importance on shareholder returns, achieving the highest dividend record since its establishment in 2025. The company continues its mid-term + annual cash dividend model, having distributed 2.90 yuan per 10 shares in the mid-term of 2025, and plans to distribute 4.10 yuan per 10 shares at year-end, for a total of 7.00 yuan per 10 shares (including tax) for the year, with total cash dividends reaching 10.374 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of nearly 35%. Since its A-share listing in 2003, CITIC Securities has continuously paid cash dividends for 24 years, with cumulative dividends exceeding 93 billion yuan, rewarding investors with real returns and fully reflecting the company’s prudent management philosophy and high regard for shareholder value.

In the face of periodic challenges posed by market fluctuations, CITIC Securities effectively mitigated external pressures through a comprehensive risk control system and flexible operational strategies, achieving steady overall performance growth. Although indicators such as foreign exchange business and operating cash flow experienced temporary pressure due to market volatility, the company’s core businesses continued to maintain strong growth, with fair value changes resulting in reduced losses compared to the previous year. Overall operational risk remains controllable, and the foundation for development is increasingly solid.

After thirty years of hard work, CITIC Securities takes the impressive annual report for 2025 as a new starting point, continuously solidifying its industry-leading position through a comprehensive leading business layout, strong profitability, solid customer base, and forward-looking strategic vision. In the future, the company will continue to align with the goals of building a financially strong nation, deepen its core businesses, innovate development models, and continue to strive in areas such as serving the real economy, supporting technological innovation, and promoting wealth management upgrades, writing a new chapter in high-quality development in the securities industry.