Top brokerage firms' average salary review: collective increase, CITIC Securities leads with an annual salary of 810k yuan

As of now, the annual reports for many brokerages for 2025 have been disclosed. As an important indicator of the health of the capital market, brokerage compensation data has once again become a focus of market attention.

Combined with Wind and company announcement data, South Capital Society has analyzed major institutions such as CITIC Securities, China International Capital Corporation, GF Securities, Huatai Securities, Shenwan Hongyuan, CITIC Construction Investment, China Merchants Securities, Orient Securities, and China Galaxy. It was found that, against the backdrop of a warming market and continuously optimized business structure, top brokerages are showing a comprehensive year-over-year increase in per capita compensation, with most institutions achieving double-digit growth, and the overall industry compensation level returning to an upward trend.

Top brokerages’ per capita compensation rises across the board

CITIC Securities leads with 812.8k yuan

In 2025, the overall activity level of the A-share market increased, reforms in the capital market continued to deepen, and brokerages’ main business lines experienced a recovery window, directly reflected in employee compensation. From the statistical results, all leading listed brokerages saw positive year-over-year growth in per capita compensation, with industry compensation sentiment significantly rebounding.

Looking at total compensation, the overall expenditure by top brokerages continued to expand. CITIC Securities ranked first in the industry with a total compensation of over 812.8k yuan, supported by its large business volume and employee scale; China International Capital Corporation’s total compensation exceeded 21.78B yuan, GF Securities’ exceeded 11.54B yuan, both remaining in the hundred-billion-yuan range. Shenwan Hongyuan, Huatai Securities, and China Merchants Securities also had high total compensation levels, reflecting a sustained increase in industry-wide manpower investment.

In terms of absolute per capita compensation, CITIC Securities remains the industry leader, with an average of 812.8k yuan, the only top brokerage to surpass 800k yuan, maintaining its long-standing industry-leading position.

China International Capital Corporation follows closely with 799.3k yuan, just a step away from 800k yuan, maintaining strong competitiveness among the top tier. GF Securities’ per capita compensation is also impressive, reaching 772.5k yuan, ranking third. Overall, the “CITIC—CICC—GF” formation constitutes the first salary echelon, with per capita compensation around 800k yuan, widening the gap with other top institutions.

Regarding growth rates, top brokerages show clear differentiation, with many achieving double-digit increases. China International Capital Corporation leads with a 24.40% year-over-year growth, making it the fastest-growing top brokerage; GF Securities’ growth is also notable at 18.67%; China Merchants Securities follows closely with an 18.21% increase. Additionally, CITIC Construction Investment and China Galaxy saw per capita compensation growth of 16.98% and 13.65%, respectively, both achieving rapid recovery.

It is noteworthy that many top brokerages’ per capita compensation has achieved double-digit growth. However, the growth rate of per capita compensation for many brokerages is generally within the growth of net profit attributable to the parent company.

Furthermore, some top brokerages’ per capita compensation growth remains relatively steady. For example, CITIC Securities achieved a net profit of 10.66B yuan attributable to shareholders in 2025, a 38.58% increase, but its per capita compensation only increased by 4.23%. Larger institutions like CITIC Securities show relatively moderate growth, maintaining overall steady growth, reflecting that large brokerages focus more on long-term stability and cost control in compensation management.

Ongoing optimization of personnel structure

“Enhancing quality and efficiency” as a common choice

In response to rising compensation levels, top brokerages generally maintained a stable or slightly adjusted employee scale in 2025. Many institutions did not blindly expand staff but instead achieved per capita efficiency improvements through streamlining and adjustments.

Regarding changes in employee numbers, differences among top brokerages are evident. CITIC Securities maintained stable total employee numbers, with only a slight increase of 42 employees compared to the previous year, demonstrating stability in personnel management. Orient Securities saw a relatively significant increase, with 843 more employees than at the end of 2024.

Apart from the aforementioned brokerages, the remaining eight top institutions also showed signs of personnel structure adjustments and optimization. Huatai Securities reduced its staff by 1,453; China Galaxy, CITIC Construction Investment, GF Securities, China International Capital Corporation, and Orient Securities each saw overall adjustments between 300 and 500 employees.

In the context of growth in total compensation and slight contraction in employee numbers, per capita compensation naturally increased significantly, indirectly confirming that top brokerages are promoting strategies of “reducing staff and increasing efficiency, optimizing roles for better results.”

Overall, the personnel management approach of top brokerages in 2025 is becoming clearer: first, controlling total numbers to avoid disorderly expansion and cost pressures; second, optimizing structure by focusing on core businesses such as investment banking, research, fintech, and wealth management; third, improving per capita output through business upgrades and digital transformation, enabling fewer people to create higher value.

This pattern of “stable personnel, rising compensation” indicates that the securities industry is shifting from past reliance on extensive expansion through manpower to a high-quality development model driven by professional capabilities and technological empowerment.

Market activity rebounds

Performance recovery solidifies compensation foundation

The overall increase in brokerage compensation in 2025 is fundamentally due to significant recovery in industry performance. Driven by factors such as rising market trading volume, normalized investment banking activities, expanding asset management scale, and increasing institutional business demand, securities firms’ revenue and profits generally improved, providing a solid basis for compensation payments.

Looking at major stock indices, despite some divergence in performance in 2025, the overall trend was positive: the Shanghai Composite Index rose by 18%, the Shenzhen Component Index by 30%, and the ChiNext Index by 50%. Under active market sentiment, the total trading volume of A-shares for the year exceeded 400 trillion yuan, with an average daily turnover of 1.73 trillion yuan, setting new records. Daily trading volume increased by 63% compared to 2024.

Additionally, the scale of institutional investors continued to expand. In 2025, newly established public fund shares reached 1.17 trillion, further increasing net asset value. By year’s end, the total ETF assets under management surpassed 6 trillion yuan. Meanwhile, individual investors remained active, with 27.436 million new A-share accounts opened on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, a 9.8% year-over-year increase; the margin financing and securities lending balance in the A-share market reached 2.54 trillion yuan, up 0.68 trillion yuan from the end of 2024.

In the IPO market, A-share IPO activity rebounded, with financing scale up 96% year-over-year to 131.8 billion yuan. Meanwhile, amid asset revaluation in China and renewed enthusiasm for domestic companies listing in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong stock market performed strongly, with IPO financing reaching 36.8 billion USD, a 226% increase year-over-year; daily average turnover increased by 90% to 249.8 billion HKD.

Against this backdrop, brokerage industry revenue from brokerage and investment banking saw significant year-over-year growth, with investment banking margins also improving, jointly driving a notable increase in overall industry profits, laying a foundation for the growth of industry-wide per capita salaries.

At the same time, digital transformation is profoundly impacting brokerage compensation structures. In recent years, top brokerages have increased investments in information technology, big data, artificial intelligence, and other fields. The demand for talent in technology development, algorithm research, and system architecture has surged, with high and rapidly increasing salaries, becoming an important driver of rising per capita compensation. The widening salary gap between traditional and emerging businesses also reflects the industry’s shift toward technology-driven and professional-driven development.