Annual reports for listed securities firms in 2025 have been disclosed, allowing for a comparison of revenue across various business segments. Compensation details at leading brokerages have come to light, with the highest-paid individuals receiving over 15 million yuan. A key question emerges: who are these professionals earning eight-figure annual salaries?
According to CITIC Securities' 2025 Hong Kong-listed annual report, the five highest-paid employees were not directors or supervisors. One individual received compensation between 15.01 million and 19 million yuan, while another earned over 13 million yuan. These high earners are primarily localized staff at overseas subsidiaries.
These highly compensated employees are typically core Managing Directors (MDs) in front-office business divisions. Their pay is closely linked to revenue from major projects, exhibiting a "once-in-several-years" spike characteristic.
Simultaneously, compensation for CITIC Securities' directors, supervisors, and senior executives has decreased significantly. The chairman's pay dropped from 5.05 million yuan in 2023 to 2.3 million yuan in 2025, with other senior executives generally earning below 1.5 million yuan.
The industry overall is displaying a new pattern where key business performers receive high compensation while management pay remains stable or declines. This trend is driven by multiple factors including regulatory salary restrictions, deferred performance pay, and compliance requirements.
The 2025 Hong Kong annual report shows the compensation range distribution for the five highest-paid employees, all of whom are non-directors or supervisors, remains consistent with 2024. This indicates the high compensation structure for core personnel in CITIC Securities' overseas operations has strong continuity and is not an isolated occurrence.
CITIC Securities clarified in its annual report that for both 2025 and 2024, the five highest-paid employees were localized staff recruited by overseas subsidiaries. Compensation paid to these employees is based on services provided to the group.
This means these high earners are not domestic staff assigned overseas but rather local professionals recruited in their respective markets, with compensation levels directly benchmarked against local financial market standards. CITIC Securities' primary overseas business vehicle is CLSA. Bloomberg previously reported that CITIC Securities was implementing salary increases for employees at its Hong Kong subsidiary CLSA, with some junior associate positions seeing raises of 15% to 30%, bringing adjusted annual salaries to approximately 75,000-80,000 HKD (about $9,600 USD). The eight-figure salaries likely come from senior business performers at overseas entities like CLSA.
The profile of these high earners is clear: senior positions in front-office business divisions, most likely MDs who delivered landmark projects during the year. A senior executive at a leading brokerage commented to media: "This situation is opportunistic rather than predictable, often occurring only once every several years. A high payout one year may return to normal levels the next."
The driving logic behind such high compensation includes project linkage (direct connection to revenue from major projects like M&A transactions, IPO underwriting, and structured financing), scarcity premium (limited global supply of experienced talent in areas like cross-border M&A, large IPOs, and complex financial products), and the "once-in-several-years" spike characteristic (not fixed annual salary but rather a special outcome of highly productive project years).
CITIC Securities achieved revenue of 74.854 billion yuan and net profit of 30.076 billion yuan in 2025, both showing significant year-on-year growth. Particularly strong overseas business performance provided the earnings foundation for such high incentives.
In sharp contrast to the eight-figure earners among business performers, disclosed compensation for CITIC Securities' directors, supervisors, and senior executives continues to decline. In 2025, Chairman Zhang Youjun received 2.3034 million yuan in compensation, with most other directors and executives below 1.5 million yuan. In 2023, Zhang Youjun's compensation was 5.05 million yuan, with most other directors and executives above 4 million yuan, representing a decrease of over 50%. Total compensation for directors and executives plummeted from 61.1486 million yuan in 2023 to 15.1369 million yuan in 2025, a reduction of 46.0117 million yuan over two years, representing a decline of 75.25%.
CITIC Securities explained in its annual report that executive compensation structure has been adjusted to include basic annual salary, performance-based annual salary, and insurance benefits, excluding variable components like special awards. This trend is not unique to CITIC Securities. Disclosed 2025 compensation for directors and executives at leading institutions like China International Capital Corporation, Huatai Securities, and China Merchants Securities all showed significant decreases compared to 2023, with some institutions seeing reductions exceeding 40%. The general decline in industry executive compensation is mainly driven by three factors: financial regulatory guidance on salary limits, 3-5 year deferred performance pay mechanisms, and compensation systems deeply linked to compliance, risk control, and long-term performance.
CITIC Securities' 2025 compensation structure clearly outlines the "new normal" in brokerage incentive systems. For overseas subsidiary business performers, compensation levels exceed 15 million yuan, driven by project revenue linkage and scarcity premiums. For directors and executives, compensation levels are generally below 1.5 million yuan, driven by regulatory limits, deferred payment, and compliance constraints. Average compensation for all employees is approximately 810,000-850,000 yuan, driven by moderate growth following performance improvements.
This pattern of high compensation for profit-generating business activities and stable pay for management functions reflects both regulatory direction and the industry's transition from "short-term incentive maximization" to "long-term stability orientation." The "mysterious individuals" earning eight-figure salaries essentially represent the projection of global market-based incentives within leading brokerages. As mechanisms like deferred payment and risk linkage continue to develop, the industry's compensation system will become more mature and sustainable.
The company's investment banking business actively adapted to the new normal in capital markets, consolidating domestic leading advantages. Domestic equity financing business and China market M&A business maintained top market positions, while debt financing business continued leading peers. The firm became the first in the industry to achieve bond underwriting volume exceeding 2 trillion yuan for two consecutive years. In 2025, the company completed 72 A-share lead underwriting projects with underwriting volume (cash and asset classes) of 270.646 billion yuan, capturing 24.36% market share and ranking first in underwriting volume. The company actively responded to national strategic deployments, fully serving the first batch of four major state-owned banks' fixed increase implementations. Deeply integrating into the national innovation-driven development strategy, the company served as exclusive sponsor for the largest 2025 STAR Market IPO and the first full-feature domestic GPU company, Moore Threads. Implementing capital market reform deepening, the company exclusively sponsored two of the first three newly registered companies in the STAR Market Growth Layer for successful listing. The company completed issuance of 6,221 domestic bonds with underwriting volume of 2.209462 trillion yuan, accounting for 6.95% of total market underwriting volume and 14.11% of securities company underwriting volume, ranking first among peers in financial bonds, corporate bonds, NAFMII products, and asset-backed securities. Actively promoting bond business innovation, the company ranked first among peers in underwriting volume for technology innovation bonds, green bonds, and rural revitalization bonds, while ranking first in both number of participations and issuance scale for public REITs. The company completed 45 China market M&A deals with transaction value of 282.899 billion yuan, ranking first in the market. This included 11 major A-share asset reorganization transactions valued at 168.278 billion yuan, capturing 35.59% market share, including large M&A transactions like China State Shipbuilding's share swap absorption of China Shipbuilding Industry and AVIC Electromechanical Systems' share issuance for asset acquisition.
The company's cross-border capital operation service capabilities continued improving, ranking second in Hong Kong IPO sponsorship scale and first in Chinese offshore bond underwriting volume. The company completed the largest transaction scale for Chinese enterprises' global M&A deals, ranking first, and executed multiple IPOs, placements, and cross-border M&A transactions in markets including Southeast Asia, India, Europe, Japan, and Australia.
In 2025, the company completed 91 overseas equity projects with underwriting volume of $7.911 billion calculated based on average allocation among all bookrunners. This included 51 Hong Kong market IPO projects and 32 follow-on offerings, with Hong Kong market equity financing business underwriting volume of $7.549 billion calculated on the same basis, including benchmark projects like the second-largest Hong Kong IPO Zijin Gold International, third-largest Hong Kong IPO Sany Heavy Industry, and largest Hong Kong follow-on offering BYD placement. The company completed 8 equity financing projects in overseas markets including Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and Australia with underwriting volume of $362 million. The company completed 311 Chinese offshore bond projects with underwriting volume of $5.346 billion, capturing 4.30% market share and ranking first, including major offshore bond projects for Baidu Group, Tencent Holdings, and State Grid, while providing clients with diversified services including structured and leveraged financing, risk solutions, and cross-border liquidity management, supporting high-quality domestic enterprises' global layout and high-quality development. Actively expanding overseas markets, the company identified foreign issuer debt financing business opportunities, completing projects including Chubb's offshore RMB bonds, Hungarian Savings Bank's offshore RMB bonds, and Sharjah Emirate's panda bonds. The company completed 72 global M&A projects for Chinese enterprises with transaction value of $77.183 billion, including cross-border M&A projects like Bohai Leasing's sale of Sesco Global, Hengmei Optoelectronics' acquisition of Samsung SDI's polarizer business, Swiss Lonza Group's asset transfer and strategic cooperation, Goodix Technology's sale of German chip company Dream Chip Technologies GmbH, and China Nonferrous Metals' acquisition of Peru's RAURA polymetallic mine.
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