CICC's 2025 performance surge: three key dimensions forging a benchmark for international wealth management

Article by Xia Chong

On the evening of March 30, China International Capital Corporation (CICC) released its 2025 financial report.

The full-year performance was strong, with revenue reaching 28.48B yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.5%, and net profit growing by 71.93% to 9.79B yuan.

As the core of CICC’s revenue, wealth management business accounts for 33%. Through omni-channel, multi-scenario client acquisition models, it manages approximately 10 million client accounts, an increase of about 1.5 million compared to last year, with total client account assets exceeding 4 trillion yuan.

Under the positive trend of a recovering capital market, investor demand for global asset allocation is further unleashed.

2026 marks the beginning of the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, and Hong Kong is迎来 a historic moment—the SAR government announced it will formulate its first five-year plan locally, proactively aligning with the national development framework.

This groundbreaking strategic decision signifies Hong Kong’s transformation from a “super connector” to a “super value creator.”

Hong Kong is anchoring its medium- and long-term action blueprint as an international financial center. According to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission’s “2024 Asset and Wealth Management Activities Survey,” by the end of 2024, Hong Kong’s asset management scale surpassed HKD 35 trillion, a 13% year-on-year increase.

The wealth wave in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area resonates in sync.

According to the Guangdong Provincial Government’s 2026 work report, in 2025, the economic aggregate of the Greater Bay Area is expected to surpass 15 trillion yuan, maintaining steady growth. The development trend of Hong Kong’s asset and wealth management business continues to improve.

The market continues to expand, with more international financial institutions establishing a presence in Hong Kong. Domestic securities firms are actively enhancing their international operations when developing wealth management services in Hong Kong.

“As a pioneer among Chinese wealth management institutions going abroad, we always adhere to the philosophy of ‘Rooted in China, Connecting the World,’ fully leveraging our unique advantages in expanding high-level financial openness,” said Diao Zhiha, head of international wealth management at CICC.

Centered on Hong Kong as a strategic hub, CICC International Wealth Management is deeply engaged in global asset allocation, cross-border business synergy, and differentiated client services, becoming a benchmark for the internationalization of securities firms’ wealth businesses.

Since 2025, a series of financial policies have been implemented, providing a “system framework + practical pathways” dual support for cross-border wealth management.

“Amid this historic opportunity, we are committed to becoming a two-way bridge and value connector linking China and global capital, offering customized, differentiated, and one-stop wealth management solutions,” Diao Zhiha said.

In 2025, the Cross-border Wealth Management Connect 2.0 will undergo a key upgrade:

Personal investment quotas will increase from 1 million yuan to 3 million yuan, with relaxed eligibility and social security requirements, expanded product pools including R4-level public funds, and simplified promotion and purchase processes. These adjustments attract more investors to participate in cross-border investments.

Driven by the expansion of Cross-border Wealth Management Connect 2.0 and the optimization of the Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shenzhen and Hong Kong-Mainland mechanisms, net southbound capital inflow reached HKD 1.4 trillion in 2025, triggering explosive growth in cross-border wealth management demand.

CICC Wealth Management seizes this major opportunity, actively embracing a new stage of global wealth allocation.

As one of the first approved securities firms, CICC’s subsidiary, CICC Wealth Securities, headquartered in the Greater Bay Area, has a large client base and a mature, comprehensive wealth management service system. It collaborates with CICC Hong Kong Securities to pilot cross-border Wealth Management Connect, coordinating the entire process, bringing high-quality global ETFs, bonds, and other assets into the Greater Bay Area, solving issues like “product selection difficulty,” and meeting diversified cross-border investment needs.

In product design, CICC’s “Cross-border Wealth Management Connect” supports both “Northbound” and “Southbound” channels. The “Northbound” products are selected by CICC Wealth.

“A comprehensive assessment of fund managers’ management scale, risk control capabilities, research resources, and past performance shows that over 6,000 qualified funds are listed on the Northbound channel, covering equity funds, hybrid funds, money market funds, bond funds, including the selected public fund 50 list,” explained a relevant person from CICC Wealth Securities.

The team ensures smooth operation by establishing internal control systems and operational procedures, developing investor protection plans, strictly implementing fund flow closure and management, and signing cross-border fund transfer cooperation agreements with partner banks.

On the technological front, CICC Wealth has optimized key scenarios such as account opening, product management, Northbound trading, and online currency exchange through multiple rounds of domestic and international testing; simultaneously, the company continues to educate investors on relevant financial policies, guiding them to understand cross-border investment features and risks.

Since launching, CICC’s cross-border wealth management clients’ asset allocation and holdings have grown significantly, driving the total product scale of wealth management services to surpass 450 billion yuan by the end of 2025, serving nearly 10 million clients. This highlights its early-mover advantage in cross-border business and confirms the market-activating effect of policies.

“Looking ahead, we will continue to strengthen the synergy between international and domestic over 200 branches, leveraging global network resources, optimizing cross-border service processes, and improving operational efficiency and customer experience, building a leading cross-border service ecosystem amid the deepening connectivity,” Diao Zhiha said.

International competition fundamentally hinges on core capabilities.

CICC International Wealth Management focuses on core areas such as global asset allocation, buy-side advisory services, empowering outbound enterprises, and brand internationalization, continuously building strong capabilities, launching major products and projects, and establishing a comprehensive international operation strength.

In terms of global asset allocation, CICC International Wealth Management has established a complete team chain in Hong Kong covering international investment management, trading, and product centers, working closely with research platforms and efficiently connecting with international markets.

Diao Zhiha revealed that after years of accumulation, CICC International Wealth Management has partnered with over 90 renowned international managers, successfully creating a full-spectrum product line that aggregates global resources, providing clients with professional, globally-oriented allocation capabilities.

In the highly competitive wealth management industry, CICC’s wealth management business has pioneered an innovative path based on “buy-side advisory,” built on professionalism and trust.

The team believes that the era of Wealth Management 1.0 was “selling products,” transitioning to “making allocations” in 2.0, and now to “planning” in 3.0—emphasizing understanding clients, products, and strategic planning, moving beyond traditional client acquisition and sales.

Leveraging AI financial advisors and digital twin assistants, CICC enhances its advisory scope and decision-making efficiency, further consolidating its differentiated positioning of “helping clients grow assets through professional advisory services.”

Through one-on-one coaching, specialized consultations, global market education, currency risk hedging advice, customized structured product portfolios, and in-depth analysis of China’s market for overseas investors, CICC provides comprehensive services.

In product and service frameworks, in 2024, CICC continued to deepen its “50 Series” international layout, based on the mature “China 50” buy-side advisory system, launching “China 50 International” and “Global 50” service frameworks overseas, transforming the domestically refined, top-tier global manager-based one-stop FOF solutions into international offerings.

“China 50 International” helps international investors lower their perception barriers to Chinese assets and accurately grasp China’s opportunities; “Global 50” offers Chinese capital a global allocation path, helping investors optimize long-term risk-return through multi-asset, multi-market strategies. This exemplifies CICC’s integrated approach of “bringing in” and “going out” in service.

Last October, “China 50 International” signed its first cooperation intent with a Middle Eastern institution. This marked a high recognition of CICC’s buy-side advisory flagship service in the Middle East, providing an important channel for Middle Eastern capital to allocate Chinese assets.

By the end of 2025, CICC Wealth’s buy-side advisory assets exceeded 130 billion yuan, setting a new record, with the proportion of assets under the “Global 50” framework continuing to rise, becoming one of the main choices for mainland investors’ global allocation.

It is reported that in 2025, 50% of incremental AUM in CICC Wealth’s product allocation was driven by buy-side advisory services.

The core of cross-border wealth management is people-oriented.

Faced with vastly different investment needs and preferences among clients from different regions and backgrounds, CICC Wealth Management implements a “thousand strategies for a thousand clients” service approach, balancing resource investment between domestic and foreign clients, supported by a professional team to ensure service delivery and achieve both customer satisfaction and business growth.

Diao Zhiha analyzed that for mainland investors, amid declining risk-free rates domestically, their risk appetite is increasingly shifting from “preservation” to “growth,” making global asset allocation more urgent.

“Facing unfamiliar markets, exchange rate fluctuations, and product differences, many investors still face dual challenges of cognition and operation in their ‘going out’ process.”

He emphasized that with a dual-core layout in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, CICC Wealth consolidates its full-platform investment, research, and advisory capabilities, offering a rich array of products and services covering various regions, asset classes, and investment styles to help clients access global opportunities.

He noted that local investors in Hong Kong value in-depth analysis and execution efficiency from professional institutions, investing heavily in risk hedging and tax optimization, and show high acceptance of complex financial instruments like structured products and options.

Overseas investors’ interest in Chinese assets continues to grow, with a focus on transparency and operational models aligned with international standards.

“With the sustained development of the mainland economy and the expansion of the Asian affluent population, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will become a key driver for the wealth management industry. Leveraging the advantages of the Greater Bay Area’s internal and external circulation, CICC International Wealth Management will continue to build globally-oriented asset allocation capabilities,” Diao Zhiha said.

Shenzhen, as a vital engine for high-quality development in the Greater Bay Area and a fertile ground for wealth management, is also a strategic focus.

In October 2025, a Shenzhen government official publicly stated that at that time, Shenzhen’s total wealth management scale exceeded 31 trillion yuan, accounting for 20% of the national total, ranking third among major Chinese cities.

In recent years, CICC has fully integrated its wealth management platform, with Shenzhen serving as the domestic headquarters, Hong Kong as the international business center, expanding services to Belt and Road countries and regions.

As China’s economy continues to develop with high quality, the attractiveness of Chinese assets globally will further increase, and the wealth management needs of mainland investors will also upgrade, making global asset allocation the norm.

“We will continue to base ourselves in Hong Kong, the international business hub, deepen our internationalization strategy, and provide cross-market, multi-currency, full-lifecycle wealth management services,” Diao Zhiha said.

International business has become a core engine for securities firms’ profit growth. By 2025, nearly one-third of CICC’s revenue will come from international operations, ranking among the top among Hong Kong-based Chinese securities firms. The internationalization of wealth management is also accelerating:

From 2018 to 2025, CICC International Wealth Management’s AUM grew at a compound annual rate of over 30%; during the same period, the scale of international product allocation grew even faster, reaching a 40% CAGR.

“We always uphold the original intention of ‘wealth for good, serving the people,’ striving to deliver China’s financial services with professionalism and human touch in our global operations,” Diao Zhiha emphasized.

He also highlighted that brand internationalization is a key practice in advancing CICC’s “Chinese brand, shared with the world” vision.

In addition to hosting the Dubai Wealth Management Conference, CICC’s international team has held events in Singapore, Riyadh, and other locations, and for three consecutive years has organized the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Wealth Management Summit in Hong Kong, creating flagship brand projects and building a highland for cross-market, cross-cultural financial dialogue.

“This year, we will continue to penetrate high-potential markets in Europe and Northeast Asia, extending our international brand service radius,” Diao Zhiha said. “At the same time, we will strengthen localization, collaborating with universities, charitable organizations, and others to deepen investor education and inclusive finance services, actively fulfilling social responsibilities of state-owned enterprises.”

With the dual advantages of deep local roots and international vision, CICC’s wealth management internationalization practice not only exemplifies its overall global strategy and highlights but also serves as a successful model for Chinese securities firms to seize the opportunities of Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center, promote wealth business internationalization, and activate new engines for cross-border wealth growth.

This article is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice.