GTHT recently released its first annual report following its merger. The combination of the two securities firms has initially achieved synergistic benefits greater than the sum of their parts. In its annual report, GTHT claimed that multiple metrics ranked first in the industry for 2025, including total consolidated assets at period-end, brokerage business revenue, and public fund seat leasing income. However, CITIC SEC also stated in its 2025 annual report that it maintained the top market position in WIND's public fund commission allocation ranking. This raises the question of which firm is truly the leader in public fund commission allocation income, and whether both firms' disclosures can withstand scrutiny. The discrepancy may stem from differences in statistical methodologies, with GTHT using data from the first half of 2025. Investors could easily be misled if they overlook the fine print notes in the annual reports.
Compared to CITIC SEC, GTHT leads in many specific business metrics. However, CITIC SEC maintains a clear advantage in overall operating revenue and adjusted net profit attributable to parent company shareholders. In 2025, GTHT recorded the highest credit impairment losses among 24 pure-play securities firms that disclosed annual reports, amounting to 3.863 billion yuan. It also ranked first in both the absolute increase of 3.613 billion yuan and the growth rate of 1,445.50% for credit impairment losses. A significant factor behind the surge in GTHT's credit impairment losses was the absorption of the former Haitong Securities, which historically reported high annual credit impairment losses.
In 2025, GTHT achieved revenue of 63.107 billion yuan, an increase of 87.40% year-over-year. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company reached 27.809 billion yuan, surging 113.52% compared to the previous year.
GTHT stated in its annual report that for 2025, its total consolidated assets exceeded 2.1 trillion yuan, and net assets attributable to the parent company were 330.4 billion yuan, both ranking first in the industry. It also claimed top industry positions in multiple business indicators, including brokerage business revenue, stock and fund trading volume, margin financing and securities lending balance, IPO underwriting, number of projects under review, average monthly active users on its retail client service platform, number of retail clients served, market share in brokerage business, public fund seat leasing income, number of Hong Kong share placement underwriting projects, number of offshore bond underwriting deals for Chinese companies, market share in stock and fund trading, balance of margin financing and securities lending, market making on the STAR Market, public fund custody scale, and market share in private securities investment fund custody.
Conversely, CITIC SEC's 2025 annual report claimed it maintained the top position in WIND's public fund commission allocation ranking, a statement very similar to GTHT's assertion regarding leading public fund seat leasing income. These seemingly conflicting claims have led investors to question which firm is actually the leader in public fund commission allocation revenue.
The difference likely lies in the statistical scope and definitions used by each firm. CITIC SEC references the "WIND public fund commission allocation ranking," while GTHT refers to "public fund seat leasing income." According to WIND data for the first half of 2025, CITIC SEC ranked first in commission allocation income across all trading modes with 319 million yuan, while GTHT ranked second with 268 million yuan. However, under the "trading unit leasing mode," GTHT ranked first with 251 million yuan, and CITIC SEC ranked second with 248 million yuan.
This indicates that based on WIND data, CITIC SEC was indeed the leader in public fund commission allocation income for the first half of 2025. GTHT only held the top position under the specific "trading unit leasing mode" with a particular consolidation method. Furthermore, if a different consolidation approach is applied within the trading unit leasing mode, CITIC SEC's income was 263 million yuan, exceeding GTHT's 252 million yuan. Similarly, under another consolidation scenario, CITIC SEC's income was 263 million yuan, higher than GTHT's 241 million yuan.
Additionally, GTHT's disclosure practices present issues. It noted in a footnote that its claim of leading public fund seat leasing income was based on data from the first half of 2025. Since this is half-year data, why wasn't it clearly stated in the main body of the report? Presenting half-year data within an annual report could be misleading to investors, especially since surrounding paragraphs reference "2025" or "full-year," potentially creating the impression that GTHT held the top position for the entire year if the footnote is overlooked.
Among the 24 A-listed pure-play securities firms that had published their 2025 annual reports by March 30, 2026, GTHT reported the highest credit impairment losses at 3.863 billion yuan. It also recorded the largest absolute increase of 3.613 billion yuan and the highest growth rate of 1,445.5% in credit impairment losses for 2025.
GTHT attributed the significant increase in credit impairment losses primarily to the addition of the financial leasing business from the absorbed Haitong Securities and provisions made under accounting standards for business combinations not under common control. Besides the substantial credit loss from the rapidly growing financial leasing business, GTHT also reported significant increases in credit impairment losses for accounts such as receivables and other receivables, other debt investments, funds lent, and other loans and receivables.
Historically, Haitong Hengxin, a financial leasing company listed in Hong Kong under stock code "01905" and formerly under Haitong Securities, faced pressure during 2022-2023 when Haitong Securities encountered difficulties due to heavy exposure to real estate US dollar bonds and high-risk projects. Market investors are particularly focused on whether the risks associated with the former Haitong Securities have been adequately resolved. The asset quality of Haitong Hengxin's financial leasing business and the overseas business risks of Haitong International will continue to test the company's risk management capabilities in the coming years.
In 2025, GTHT's total assets reached 2.11 trillion yuan, slightly surpassing CITIC SEC's 2.08 trillion yuan, claiming the top spot in the industry. This milestone signifies the formal arrival of a "two giants and several strong players" era in China's securities industry.
In terms of overall performance, CITIC SEC held an advantage. It reported revenue of 74.854 billion yuan and net profit attributable to parent company shareholders of 30.076 billion yuan for 2025, compared to GTHT's revenue of 63.107 billion yuan and net profit of 27.809 billion yuan. A more critical metric is the adjusted net profit attributable to parent company shareholders, where CITIC SEC reported 30.3 billion yuan versus GTHT's 21.4 billion yuan—a gap of nearly 9 billion yuan. A significant reason for the disparity between GTHT's net profit and its adjusted figure was a non-recurring item of 8.827 billion yuan in negative goodwill resulting from the merger.
Breaking down the businesses, CITIC SEC led in investment banking, with net fee income of 6.336 billion yuan and top positions in the scale of domestic equity, bond, and M&A transactions. GTHT reported investment banking income of 4.657 billion yuan, with strengths in the number of lead-underwritten IPOs and projects under review. In asset management, CITIC SEC's net fee income was 12.177 billion yuan, far exceeding GTHT's 6.393 billion yuan. For brokerage business, GTHT ranked first with net fee income of 15.138 billion yuan, followed closely by CITIC SEC with 14.753 billion yuan.
Regarding proprietary business income, calculated as the sum of investment net收益 and net gains from changes in fair value, minus investment income from associates and joint ventures, CITIC SEC reported 38.604 billion yuan for 2025, accounting for 51.57% of its total revenue. GTHT's proprietary business income under the same calculation was 25.404 billion yuan, representing 40.26% of its total revenue. Both the absolute amount and the proportion of revenue from proprietary business were significantly lower for GTHT compared to CITIC SEC. If GTHT's proprietary business income had been comparable to CITIC SEC's, their total revenues for 2025 would have been much closer.
Notably, the year-end financial investment asset amounts for both CITIC SEC and GTHT in 2025 were not vastly different, at 958.3 billion yuan and 908.9 billion yuan, respectively. However, the proprietary business income differed by 13 billion yuan, raising the question of whether GTHT's proprietary investment return rate is lower. It is worth considering that Haitong Securities was only incorporated into GTHT's consolidation scope on March 14, 2025, meaning the former Haitong Securities' revenue for about two and a half months was not included in GTHT's 2025 annual report. Nevertheless, generating over 10 billion yuan in proprietary business income in that short period would have been challenging, especially given significant market volatility in the first quarter of 2025.
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