At the 2026 Global and China Capital Market Outlook Forum held in Beijing on January 15th, Song Xinlei, Deputy General Manager of the Wealth Platform Department at Guotai Haitong Securities Co., Ltd., shared his views during a roundtable discussion titled "The Evolution of Brokerage Wealth Management: The AI Era? Strategic Divergence? Humanity as the Ultimate Goal?". He stated that AI remains fundamentally a technological category, serving as an extension tool for business operations, and it has not altered the basic operational principles of the finance and securities industries. At the current stage, AI can play a significant role in enhancing service efficiency, but it cannot replace humans, nor can it change the existing structure of the financial services industry.
Song Xinlei pointed out that the key focus in utilizing AI capabilities lies in its potential to make human services more efficient. Using investment advisory services as an example, he explained that while an AI model, by learning from individual experience, might surpass a single advisor in terms of knowledge breadth and responsiveness, it currently cannot exceed the collective service capability of an organization comprised of multiple individuals. "Currently, silicon-based intelligence remains downstream from carbon-based intelligence," he remarked, citing Elon Musk's prediction that while AI-created intelligence surpassing any single individual may emerge in the future, this does not change the fundamental nature of AI as a tool.
Reflecting on the brokerage industry, Song Xinlei believes that traditional brokerage businesses largely fall under "channel businesses," where institutions differ based on the number of licenses they hold, but exhibit significant homogeneity in service quality and professional capability. He emphasized that capital markets are full of uncertainty, and the core service of wealth management should be dedicated to "striving to turn uncertainty into certainty."
He concurred that the wealth service industry should be transformed by integrating professional capabilities from the perspective of improving clients' long-term success rate, rather than simply pushing products or providing stock portfolio allocations. The true path, he argued, lies in pooling the expertise of the company's professionals, solidifying their service capabilities and experience in the era of AI and large language models, thereby forming a system imbued with the DNA of确定性 (certainty) service. This is the key process for converting uncertainty into certain value.
Song Xinlei admitted that while this transformation is challenging, every market participant should strive in this direction, avoiding stagnation at the level of merely organizing tools and information. Simply increasing transaction efficiency or providing excessive information might instead accelerate client attrition, he cautioned. He stressed that systematic and valuable service is the answer the wealth management industry should pursue. In this process, AI will undoubtedly play a crucial role in enhancing efficiency. Guotai Haitong is also committed to exploring and refining a service model that embodies certainty.
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