CITIC Securities' net profit market share declined by 1.05 percentage points over five years; the recovery pace of the investment banking business is slow.

As April arrives, various brokerages are releasing their performance reports for 2025.

These financial reports are not only snapshots of the securities industry’s landscape at the end of 2025 but also a phased summary of the past five years. According to SAC data, the entire industry of 150 securities firms achieved operating revenue of 541.17B yuan in 2025, a 20.67% increase compared to 2020, and net profit of 219.44B yuan, a 39.30% increase over 2020. The securities industry as a whole has achieved fruitful results.

When observing individual brokerages, some are pleased while others are concerned.

As of April 3, 25 brokerages have released their annual reports. If sorted by the change in market share of net profit over the past five years, the top three are Guotai Haitong (including consolidation factors), CITIC Securities, and Founder Securities; the bottom three are Industrial Securities, CICC, and CITIC Construction Investment. (Note: Due to the Ministry of Finance’s July 8, 2025, implementation Q&A on standard warehouse receipt trading accounting treatment, related businesses are no longer recognized as revenue after the rule’s implementation, which may distort revenue market share changes in 2025; thus, this is not used as a ranking indicator.)

It is worth noting that among the bottom three, two are leading brokerages—CICC and CITIC Construction Investment—and both rely heavily on investment banking, aligning with the recent trend of IPO pace adjustments.

Since the “827 New Policy” in 2023, the primary capital market has undergone significant adjustments. In 2023, IPO amounts declined for the first time in six years, and in 2024, the tightening continued, with both the number of IPOs and total funds “dipping sharply.” It is only in 2025 that the market shows signs of recovery.

During this process, major investment banks actively seek transformation. For example, CICC focused on the Hong Kong stock market, while CITIC Construction Investment emphasized mergers and acquisitions.

Looking back, changes in the domestic primary market have led companies to flock to the Hong Kong stock market, with IPO funds in Hong Kong increasing at a rate of up to 325% in 2025. Against this backdrop, CICC’s investment banking recovery has been relatively rapid, with revenues of 3.7B yuan, 3.1B yuan, and 5.03B yuan in 2023, 2024, and 2025 respectively, with 2025’s investment banking revenue reaching about 70% of 2022 levels.

In contrast, CITIC Construction Investment’s focus on the M&A market has not shown strong growth. According to the SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Financial Service Platform, from 2023 to 2025, China’s M&A market size grew only 16% in total. Due to this, although CITIC Construction Investment has consistently ranked first or second in the A-share M&A market, its financial report improvements are limited. From 2023 to 2025, CITIC Construction Investment’s industry business revenues were 4.8B yuan, 2.49 billion yuan, and 3.13B yuan, respectively, with 2025’s revenue only about half of 2022’s.

The changes in CITIC Construction Investment’s equity underwriting performance may also reflect a shaken position in its investment banking status.

On one hand, the company’s ranking in the follow-on offering market has declined in recent years. According to Wind’s equity underwriting rankings, from 2022 to 2025, CITIC Construction Investment’s A-share follow-on offering underwriting amounts were 71.42B yuan, 53.65B yuan, 8.36B yuan, and 71.85B yuan, ranking third, second, fourth, and fifth in the industry respectively.

On the other hand, CITIC Construction Investment’s current A-share IPO project pipeline does not show a leading advantage. From 2021 to 2025, the company’s IPO underwriting rankings were third, second, third, third, and second. As of April 3, 2026, its A-share IPO underwriting amount is 2.04B yuan, ranking sixth.

According to queue data from Wind’s Mainland Stock Special, CITIC Construction Investment has relatively few top-tier projects, with only Changxin Technology among the top 40 fundraising projects. This project is a joint sponsorship led by CICC and is the only joint sponsorship project for CITIC Construction Investment.

Looking at the exclusive sponsorship projects, CITIC Construction Investment has 135, but most are small-scale. Among these, 59% are companies listed on the ChiNext or Beijing Stock Exchange, with a total fundraising scale of 93.6 billion yuan.

In comparison, CICC has only 76 exclusive sponsorship projects but a total fundraising scale of 131.7 billion yuan.

Reviewing the past five years, aside from a significant outperformance in brokerage growth, CITIC Construction Investment’s other business growth has been relatively flat. Its proprietary investment returns have consistently ranked mid-tier in the industry, and asset management revenue growth has stagnated. Now, its investment banking revenue ranking continues to decline, from second place early on to fifth in 2025, raising market concerns.

Whether CITIC Construction Investment can once again shine in its investment banking business may determine its next five years’ fate.