Two listed brokerages under Anhui's state-owned assets system, Guoyuan Securities Company Limited and Huaan Securities Co.,Ltd., have recently unveiled their half-year results, revealing contrasting trajectories from the same provincial roots.
In the first half, Guoyuan Securities Company Limited reported revenue of RMB 3.945 billion and net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 1.703 billion, up 16.16% and 21.25% year-on-year respectively. Meanwhile, Huaan Securities Co.,Ltd. achieved revenue of RMB 4.007 billion and net profit of RMB 2.097 billion, surging 65.28% and 102.55% respectively—a net profit growth rate nearly five times that of Guoyuan. Despite a revenue gap of merely RMB 62 million, the net profit difference approaches RMB 400 million, underscoring how these two sibling brokerages are diverging at markedly different speeds.
The Proprietary Trading Dominance
A stark data point emerges from Guoyuan Securities Company Limited's half-year report income structure: proprietary trading revenue reached RMB 1.598 billion, accounting for 40.51% of total revenue with an operating margin as high as 97%. Wealth and credit business revenue stood at RMB 1.291 billion, representing 32.73% of the total. Combined, proprietary trading and wealth credit contribute over 73% of the company's revenue.
What does this imply? Two-thirds of Guoyuan Securities Company Limited's income is highly dependent on capital market conditions—when equities rally and bond markets turn bullish, proprietary trading profits; when markets correct, performance adjusts accordingly. In Q1 2026, revenue of RMB 1.327 billion and net profit of RMB 542 million declined 12.59% and 15.38% year-on-year respectively. By Q2, as markets rebounded, performance quickly recovered to RMB 2.62 billion and RMB 1.16 billion respectively.
The structural risk within proprietary trading warrants equal attention. The parent company's proprietary equity securities and derivatives as a percentage of net capital has risen to 37.75%, up nearly 9 percentage points from the end of 2025. The substantial expansion of equity exposure means that any market correction could deliver a more severe impact on net capital.
Investment Banking Continues to Bleed Losses Amid Recurring Penalties
During the first half, Guoyuan Securities Company Limited's investment banking revenue stood at merely RMB 65.3984 million, down 27.54% year-on-year, with operating profit at negative RMB 23.0622 million. This marks the continuation of sustained losses in this segment since 2023. As a proportion of total revenue, investment banking contributes just 1.66%—a figure nearly negligible for a listed brokerage aspiring to be a "first-class industrial investment bank."
More concerning is that investment banking not only fails to generate profits but also attracts regulatory penalties. On July 31, 2026, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced administrative supervisory measures against Guoyuan Securities Company Limited—ordering corrective action. The regulator identified three key issues: inadequate due diligence in underwriting and sponsorship projects; lax quality control and internal review procedures; and insufficient rectification of integrity-related compliance problems. The then-head of investment banking, who also served as board secretary, Li Zhoufeng, received a warning letter.
This represents yet another regulatory penalty for Guoyuan Securities Company Limited's investment banking operations in recent years. In February 2026, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a warning letter to the company for failing to maintain sufficient professional prudence regarding cross-period revenue recognition issues at the target company in the Anhui Fuhuang Steel Structure restructuring project, and for inadequately verifying the transaction's substance. In March 2026, the Qingdao Regulatory Bureau issued a warning letter to the company's Qingdao Silong Middle Road branch. In May 2026, an employee at the Huizhou Avenue branch received a warning letter for privately accepting client mandates for securities trading and illegally promising returns.
Reviewing the full year of 2025, Guoyuan Securities Company Limited's investment banking unit received four penalty letters covering the entire spectrum of IPO sponsorship, refinancing, and M&A advisory services. A business segment perpetually in losses, yet repeatedly penalized for regulatory violations—this paradox suggests that in this weak operational area, the company has failed to fully uphold even fundamental compliance standards.
Multiple Business Lines Lag Behind Huaan Securities
Guoyuan Securities Company Limited and Huaan Securities Co.,Ltd. are both provincial state-owned brokerages under Anhui's jurisdiction. Yet their first-half 2026 performance comparison reveals a "same province, different fortunes" divergence.
At the overall performance level, Huaan Securities Co.,Ltd. reported revenue of RMB 4.007 billion and net profit of RMB 2.097 billion—RMB 62 million more in revenue and RMB 394 million more in net profit than Guoyuan. In asset management, the gap is even more pronounced. Guoyuan Securities Company Limited's asset management revenue was RMB 35 million, while Huaan Securities Co.,Ltd.'s asset management fee net income reached RMB 241 million—6.8 times higher than Guoyuan's. Huaan Securities Co.,Ltd.'s subsidiary Huaan Asset Management generated operating revenue of RMB 384 million and net profit of RMB 200 million, with total assets under management of RMB 75.134 billion; by contrast, Guoyuan Securities Company Limited's parent company manages only RMB 32.663 billion in assets. Whether measured by scale or profitability, Huaan Securities Co.,Ltd. holds a clear lead.
In investment banking, Guoyuan Securities Company Limited slightly exceeds Huaan Securities Co.,Ltd. in absolute revenue, yet on the compliance front, Huaan Securities Co.,Ltd. has not faced the CSRC's corrective order as Guoyuan has. Regarding proprietary trading, Guoyuan Securities Company Limited recorded income of RMB 1.598 billion versus Huaan Securities Co.,Ltd.'s RMB 629 million. Guoyuan substantially outpaces Huaan in proprietary trading scale—but higher proprietary income entails deeper reliance on market conditions and greater performance volatility. Guoyuan Securities Company Limited's sharp Q1 proprietary trading decline already validated this risk.
All told, in asset management and other business lines, Huaan Securities Co.,Ltd. is widening its lead over Guoyuan Securities Company Limited. Meanwhile, in the "weather-dependent" proprietary trading segment, Guoyuan Securities Company Limited's so-called scale advantage constitutes precisely its largest risk exposure.
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