"Top Brokerage Firm" averages over 800k yuan per person! Brokerage compensation revealed for 2025

Ask AI · Why does there seem to be a contrast between total compensation decreasing and per-capita compensation increasing for broker executives?

21st Century Business Herald reporter Liu Xiafei

Brokerage firms’ annual reports for 2025 are being released one after another. With industry performance recovering, compensation for employees is also drawing close attention.

Based on Wind statistics compiled by the reporter of 21st Century Business Herald, among 25 comparable brokerage firms that have already disclosed relevant data, per-capita compensation for brokerage employees generally rose in 2025, while executive compensation showed the feature of “total decreasing, per-capita increasing.”

At the executive level, the regulator’s push for “prudent compensation” continues to gain momentum: the total compensation of executive management at more than 70% of brokerages decreases. However, due to factors such as a downsizing of executive teams, about 60% of brokerages still see their executives’ per-capita compensation rise instead, creating a divergence pattern of “total decreasing, per-capita increasing.” But when comparing data from the past three years, the “million-yuan-salary executive club” has already been substantially “downselected,” and the annual executive pay of leading brokerages of 3 million yuan or more is gradually becoming a thing of the past.

At the employee level, driven by the industry’s performance rebound, per-capita compensation generally increased. Among the 25 comparable brokerages mentioned above, all achieved positive growth, with CITIC Securities leading the industry with per-capita compensation of 812.8k yuan.

From a longer-term perspective, adjustments to the securities industry compensation system are still “in progress.” Regulators repeatedly stress the “prudent compensation” direction, combined with the business pressure of “cutting costs and improving efficiency,” brokerages are trying to find a new balance between compliance constraints and talent competition. Compensation reform in the securities industry is shifting from near-term pay reductions toward long-term reshaping.

Executive compensation:

Total down for more than 70%, per-capita up for about 60%

Looking at total executive compensation in 2025, Guangzhou Securities ranks first with 45.1190 million yuan; following it, CITIC Securities, Guolian Minsheng, CICC, and Founder Securities all fall into the 20 million yuan range. Their total executive compensation amounts are 25.9873 million yuan, 24.7822 million yuan, 21.6480 million yuan, and 20.6866 million yuan, respectively.

From the overall trend, under the regulator’s “prudent compensation” guidance together with the internal requirement of the industry’s “cutting costs and improving efficiency,” broker executives’ total compensation continues the downward pressure trend. Wind data show that among the 25 comparable brokerages with disclosed data, 18 saw their executives’ total compensation decline year over year, accounting for more than 70%.

Among them, the total executive compensation at two leading brokerages, Shenwan Hongyuan and China Galaxy, fell by more than 30%. The declines at Hu’an Securities, Industrial Securities, Oriental Securities, and Founder Securities were more than 25%, while the declines at China Merchants Securities, Capital Creation Securities, Huatai Securities, and China Securities JianTou also fell by more than 20%.

However, there are 7 brokerages whose executive compensation grew against the trend. They are Guolian Minsheng (+69.24%), West Securities (+54.91%), Guangzhou Securities (+42.04%), Hualin Securities (+25.17%), Guotai Junan (+21.53%), Zhongyuan Securities (+11.10%), and Cinda Securities (+1.08%).

Yet, the decline in total compensation did not directly lead to a synchronized contraction in per-capita executive compensation. One notable phenomenon is that while the total executive compensation decreases at more than 70% of brokerages, about 60% of brokerages nevertheless record year-over-year increases in their executives’ per-capita compensation.

Of the 25 comparable brokerages, 15 saw year-over-year increases in per-capita executive compensation, accounting for roughly 60%. Among them, Guangzhou Securities’ increase in per-capita executive compensation in 2025 was as high as 82.62%, leading across the industry. Guolian Minsheng, Hualin Securities, West Securities, Zhongyuan Securities, and others also achieved growth of more than 50%.

The divergence between “one down and the other up” in total and per-capita compensation may mainly be related to a reduction in the size of brokerage executives’ teams. In recent years, trends such as optimization of executive structures and “dual-hatting” (holding multiple roles) have led several brokerages to reduce the number of executives. Among the 25 brokerages mentioned above, 22 saw declines in the number of executives in 2025. For example, Guangzhou Securities had 21 executives receiving compensation in 2025, compared with 27 in 2024.

Comparing compensation data from the past three years, one significant change is that the number of brokerages with executives’ per-capita annual pay at the million-level has dropped sharply. In 2023, among the 25 brokerages, nearly 10 still had executives’ per-capita compensation above 1 million yuan. But by 2025, among the 25 brokerages, only 5 had executives’ per-capita compensation above 1 million yuan: Guangzhou Securities (2.1485 million yuan), CICC (1.2734 million yuan), Hualin Securities (1.1614 million yuan), Founder Securities (1.1493 million yuan), and Guolian Minsheng (1.0775 million yuan).

CITIC Securities, China Securities JianTou, and others that once consistently held their place in the “million-yuan-salary executive club” saw their executives’ per-capita compensation drop to 866.2k yuan and 644.6k yuan in 2025, respectively—both falling below the one-million threshold. Previously, the year-over-year executive per-capita pay at major brokerages such as CITIC Securities, often as high as 3 million yuan, is also gradually becoming a thing of the past.

Employee compensation:

Per-capita compensation generally rises; mid-to-small brokerages show greater flexibility

Beyond executive compensation, changes in employee compensation are also an important dimension for observing the incentives ecosystem in the securities industry.

In comparison, the per-capita compensation level at leading brokerages still remains ahead. According to Wind data, among the 25 comparable brokerages with disclosed data, CITIC Securities tops the list with per-capita compensation of 812.8k yuan. CICC, Guangzhou Securities, and Guotai Junan follow closely with per-capita compensation of 799.3k yuan, 772.5k yuan, and 711.1k yuan, respectively.

There are also 6 brokerages whose per-capita compensation exceeds 600k yuan: Shenwan Hongyuan (681.1k yuan), Huatai Securities (669.1k yuan), Oriental Securities (649.5k yuan), Industrial Securities (620.4k yuan), Guolian Minsheng (617.1k yuan), and China Galaxy (616.1k yuan).

Meanwhile, overall, compared with 2024, against the backdrop of industry sentiment recovering and broadly rising performance, in 2025 per-capita employee compensation at brokerages generally increased. Among the 25 brokerages above, all achieved positive growth in per-capita employee compensation.

Among them, many mid-to-small brokerages perform especially well in terms of compensation growth rate. For example, Hu’an Securities, Industrial Securities, and Zhongyuan Securities rank among the top in per-capita compensation growth rates, achieving growth of 30.96%, 26.35%, and 20.89%, respectively. This corresponds to reaching 461.6k yuan, 620.4k yuan, and 329.5k yuan, demonstrating strong compensation incentive flexibility.

In addition to the direct pull from the rebound in performance, the broad rise in employees’ per-capita compensation is also closely related to the continued optimization of the industry’s workforce structure.

Data from the China Securities Industry Association show that as of the end of December 2025, the number of people employed in the securities industry was 327.8k, down nearly 8,000 from the end of 2024. But the reduction in headcount was not evenly distributed. Across the whole industry, general securities business personnel and securities brokers decreased by 0.13 hundred thousand and 0.57 hundred thousand, respectively, compared with the previous year, while investment consultants and analysts expanded against the trend, increasing by 0.91 hundred thousand and 333 people, respectively.

As the industry accelerates its transformation from traditional channel business to wealth management and comprehensive financial services, roles such as investment consultants and analysts—positions with higher professional barriers and stronger service attributes—continue to expand. Objectively, this also raises the industry’s per-capita compensation.

Adjustments to the industry compensation system are “in progress”

From a longer time dimension, adjustments to brokerages’ compensation systems are still “in progress.”

After the publication in May 2022 of the “Guidelines for Securities Companies to Establish a Prudent Compensation System,” in July 2025, the China Securities Industry Association released the “Implementation Opinions of the China Securities Industry Association on Strengthening Self-Regulation and Promoting High-Quality Development of the Securities Industry,” again reiterating the “prudent compensation system.”

Among the points emphasized, securities companies must strictly implement all requirements in the prudent compensation system guidelines, and establish scientific and reasonable, standardized and effective compensation incentive mechanisms and clean-practices professional conduct management systems.

Many industry insiders analyze that the core objective of compensation reform in the securities industry is to shift from incentive models that previously chased short-term high returns to compensation mechanisms that are more prudent and matched to risk levels and long-term performance. For brokerages, this means that the “cap” effect of executive compensation will continue to exist, and growth in employees’ compensation will be reflected more as structural adjustments rather than a broad-based rebound.

In addition, from the perspective of a company’s own operations, the industry consensus of “cutting costs and improving efficiency” is also forcing brokerages to reshape their compensation structure. How to tilt resources toward high-value-creation roles while maintaining sufficient compensation competitiveness for talent in core business areas under compliance constraints and cost control is also the ledger that every brokerage must carefully calculate in the future.