Fund Sub-Account Commission Rankings Released: Leading Brokerages Shake Up, Small and Medium-Sized Brokers Break Through

Author: Liu Yingjie Lin Qian

In 2025, against the backdrop of the deepening reform of public fund fee structures and the rebound in market trading activity, the brokerages’ commission allocation structure has entered a new round of intense reshuffling. According to Wind data, the total commission income from commission allocation in the securities industry in 2025 was 11.014 billion yuan, essentially flat with 2024 and ending the trend of continuous declines seen previously. However, under a pattern of overall stability in total volume, leading brokerages have re-ranked again due to mergers, restructuring, and strategic adjustments, while a group of mid-sized and smaller brokerages are becoming a market focus at astonishing growth rates by leveraging differentiated strategies.

In the view of industry insiders, with commission rates declining, investment research is increasingly returning to its underlying value, which also sets higher requirements for the comprehensive service capabilities of brokerages. Leading brokerages are expected to strengthen market discourse power through research brand reinforcement, while mid-sized and smaller brokerages may achieve differentiated development by leveraging their research strengths.

**　　A contest of “gold content” among the top tier**

In the top-tier group where the strong keep getting stronger, the competition for rankings in commission allocation for brokerages in 2025 is not only about shifts in positions, but also a deep contest over growth quality and core advantages.

China Citic Securities remains firmly in the top spot, leading the industry with 2,391.231 billion yuan in commission-allocated stock trading value and 814 million yuan in commission allocation income. However, it is worth noting that its year-over-year growth in commission allocation income of 2.05% is relatively moderate within the top-tier group. By contrast, Haitong Securities shows strong momentum in catching up: its commission-allocated stock trading value grew 66.28% year over year; its commission allocation income grew 19.38% year over year to 546 million yuan, narrowing the gap with Yangtze River Securities, which ranked fourth for commission allocation income, to 12 million yuan. Behind this incremental growth may be closely related to its continued investment in institutional client service and digital platforms.

The most notable structural change on this year’s list comes from Guotai Junan Securities & Haitong Securities after their strong-strong combination. With the merger of Guotai Junan Securities and Haitong Securities, the new entity made its debut for the first time by jumping to second place in the industry with 2,082.337 billion yuan in commission-allocated stock trading value and 668 million yuan in commission allocation income. Its year-over-year growth in commission allocation income is as high as 48.54%. However, based on estimated commission rates, its level of 0.32% declined compared with 2024, showing a trend that after the merger, the estimated commission rate is passively moving closer to lower prices. In contrast, while 广发证券 (GF Securities) has its commission allocation income ranked third, its estimated commission rate of 0.36% remains at a relatively high level within the top-tier group, to some extent reflecting its bargaining power in research services for buy-side institutions.

Shenwan Hongyuan Securities has an industry-established, long-running research institute. Its research business has consistently maintained strong competitiveness in the industry. In 2025, Shenwan Hongyuan Securities’ commission-allocated stock trading value grew 89.53% year over year, and commission allocation income was 409 million yuan; its industry ranking for commission allocation income rose to eighth place. Its year-over-year growth in commission allocation income was 36.69%, with the growth rate among the leading brokerages. In 2025, Shenwan Hongyuan Research Institute actively leveraged its shareholder advantages to break through against the trend amid market volatility and industry changes. Key indicators continued to improve, and through the “Yiwan Qiyuan” integrated institutional client service platform, it drove digital upgrades to services, while the business’s ability to generate revenue through transformation continued to rise.

Of note is that there has been a significant divergence between the growth in commission-allocated stock trading value and the growth in commission allocation income. In 2025, the securities industry’s commission-allocated transaction value grew 47% year over year, but the total commission amount increased only slightly. Industry insiders believe that, under the background of widespread declines in commission rates, relying solely on trading volume growth can no longer drive revenue improvement. Comprehensive service capability and the efficiency of unit output are becoming the new competitive focal points.

**　　A showdown among mid-sized and smaller brokerages: opening new modes**

If competition among top-tier brokerages is a game of scale and efficiency, then the breakout of mid-sized and smaller brokerages is a test of path selection and strategic resolve. Based on full-year 2025 data, some brokerages succeeded in breaking the rigid “the top stays strong” pattern, but their growth models differ from one another, showing clear differentiated characteristics.

Huayuan Securities is one of the largest dark horses in 2025. Its commission allocation income rose from 0.17 billion yuan in 2024 to 0.144 billion yuan in 2025, an increase of 764.9%, and its ranking jumped from the bottom end to 28th place. Judging from Huayuan Securities’ performance, it has taken a path of “track focus + technology enablement.” Since its research institute was established in 2023, it has not immediately expanded aggressively; instead, it has concentrated limited resources on vertical areas such as new quality productive forces and green low-carbon sectors, building a moat through penetrative industry research. Wind data shows that in 2025, its estimated commission rate still remained at 0.44%, clearly higher than the industry average.

CICC? (Huafu Securities) shows a path of “high-end talent” plus “precise sales.” Its commission allocation income grew 186.46% year over year, and its ranking jumped to 22nd place. Huafu Securities rapidly boosted its influence in the market by bringing in star analysts, and at the same time, it laid out six research centers around “new quality productive forces,” turning its talent advantage into sustained, in-depth service capabilities. Its estimated commission rate of 0.43% is also higher than the industry average.

It is worth noting that a batch of long-established research institutions have also regained vitality in this round of reshuffling. Guojin Securities pushed forward its “Research Sales 3.0” reform, and its commission allocation income increased 37.23% year over year to 290 million yuan. Its ranking rose steadily from 21st to 16th. Unlike “dark horse” brokerages, Guojin Securities’ breakout reflects more the optimization of existing capacity: through reforming internal mechanisms and improving research-to-transformation efficiency, it captures market share in a stock market environment with existing demand. Although Guojin Securities’ estimated commission rate of 0.40% is slightly lower than Huayuan Securities and Huafu Securities, it still ranks among the leaders among long-established brokerages.

In addition, East Money Securities’ commission allocation income in 2025 grew 67.15% year over year, for the first time surpassing the 100 million yuan threshold.

**　　Investment research returns to its underlying value**

Starting from July 2024, the “Regulations on the Management of Securities Trading Fees of Publicly Offered Securities Investment Funds” officially came into effect, reshaping the mechanism for trading commissions and having a far-reaching impact on aspects such as the competitive landscape for sell-side research and business deployment. In the view of industry insiders, this further drives investment research back to its underlying value. Only when research services directly meet clients’ needs for investment decision-making can value truly be converted.

Multiple brokerages stated that the company will transform from traditional sell-side research to comprehensive research and service, enhancing the core position of research business in business synergy, client service, and the company’s strategy. At the same time, they will focus on digital enablement and differentiated competition.

“Company will continue to focus on doing its research duties well, enriching both the breadth and depth of research, and making efforts to bring research back to its roots.” Shenwan Hongyuan Research Institute said that it will coordinate the company’s overall resources through the institutional business committee’s role, and actively collaborate across the institutional lines to provide clients with an integrated suite of comprehensive financial services of “research + business.” This will drive cross-business conversion of research value, deliver precise service to clients’ investment decisions, and support the real economy through multi-dimensional research and practice-based services.

Deepening integration across domestic and overseas markets is an important feature of Citic Securities’ research business. In its 2025 annual report, Citic Securities said it will further optimize its global research service network, achieve full coordination in the allocation of resources, service standards, and business processes both at home and abroad, expand the coverage radius for global client services, and consolidate and enhance global market share. At the same time, it will continue to build global brand communication IP to strengthen the global output of research viewpoints and the construction of discourse power.

Based on the “One Institute, One Academy” research system comprising research institutes, policy and industry research institutes, Guotai Junan Haitong Securities stated that in the future, its research business will continue to strengthen its professional capabilities in both sell-side research and high-end think tank research, enhancing the breadth and depth of its research coverage. It will build first-class securities research brands with international influence and local pricing power, as well as high-end think tank platforms with industry-leading influence, continuously improving its industry influence in key research fields.

(Editor: Xu Nannan)

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