Brokerage asset management firms' 2025 performance report released: Two companies with revenue over 2 billion yuan, one institution with a loss exceeding 600 million yuan. What's going on?

Questioning AI · GF Fund Management’s Losses Widen, Is Performance Pay Write-Back the Main Cause?

Meiri Reporter: Li Na Meiri Editor: Peng Shuiping

As the parent company of securities firms releases their 2025 annual reports, the operating performance and future strategic layouts of many securities asset management subsidiaries have also come to light. From the overall performance, the industry’s leading effect is evident, with Huatai Asset Management and Guotai Haitong Asset Management both surpassing 2 billion yuan in operating income, firmly ranking in the top tier; in terms of net profit, Huatai Asset Management leads with 2B yuan.

Meanwhile, securities firms holding public fund licenses generally regard the dual-drive of public and private funds as their strategic focus, with industry differentiation and transformation still accelerating.

Two Leading Securities Asset Managers Achieve Over 1.14B Yuan in Revenue

In terms of operating income scale, the leading effect in the industry is prominent, with Huatai Asset Management and Guotai Haitong Asset Management being the only two companies with revenue exceeding 2B yuan, at 2.21B yuan and 2.06B yuan respectively, maintaining top positions.

Data shows that by the end of 2025, Huatai Asset Management’s assets under management reached 708.47B yuan, an increase of 27.36% year-on-year. The annual report of Guotai Haitong Securities indicates that in 2025, Guotai Haitong Asset Management seized the opportunity of integration, promoting leapfrog development of its public fund business. By the end of the period, the non-money market public fund scale exceeded 72 billion yuan, nearly 50% growth from the previous year-end, with rapid growth also seen in FOF products, public quantitative products, and corporate wealth management scales.

Among companies with disclosed data, Dongzheng Asset Management achieved revenue of 1.6B yuan, CITIC Securities Asset Management achieved 1.53B yuan, forming the second tier around 1.5 billion yuan; China Merchants Asset Management achieved revenue of 948 million yuan, and Guangzheng Asset Management achieved 743 million yuan, both near the 1 billion yuan mark.

In terms of year-on-year growth, most companies achieved positive growth, with HuAn Asset Management performing the best, with revenue increasing by 159.04% in 2025, from 249 million yuan to 645 million yuan. Notably, public information shows that on August 26, 2024, HuAn Securities’ subsidiary HuAn Asset Management officially commenced operations, meaning the 2024 revenue data for HuAn Asset Management does not cover a full year. Additionally, Xingzheng Asset Management grew by 66.06% year-on-year, Guolian Asset Management by 47.37%, and Zhongtai Asset Management by 27.43%, all achieving rapid growth.

However, some securities asset management companies saw revenue decline. Shenwan Hongyuan Asset Management’s 2025 revenue decreased by 9.08% year-on-year, from 595 million yuan to 541 million yuan.

An industry insider from a securities asset management firm pointed out that overall, the securities asset management industry in 2025 showed steady growth, with leading companies continuing to consolidate their advantages, while some small- and medium-sized firms achieved growth through differentiated strategies.

More Than 600 Million Yuan in Net Loss for Some Asset Managers

Among the 13 disclosed securities asset management companies’ operating performances, GF Fund Management is the only one with two consecutive years of negative revenue and net profit. In 2025, GF Asset Management’s revenue was -276 million yuan, slightly worse than -274 million yuan in 2024; net profit was -670 million yuan, compared to -593 million yuan in 2024, an increase in loss of 77 million yuan.

Actually, as early as the first half of 2025, GF Asset Management’s net loss of 486 million yuan drew widespread attention. The market generally believes this is mainly related to the write-back of performance fees under accounting standards, which occurs when the net value of products experiences a significant decline, falling below the previously recognized performance fee level, requiring the company to reverse the previously recognized but not yet received performance fees, directly reflected as negative income on the books.

On the other hand, GF Securities’ annual report shows that GF Asset Management’s management scale has significantly declined.

As of the end of December 2025, the net value of GF Asset Management’s single asset management plans and special asset management plans increased by 12.61% and 38.08% respectively compared to the end of 2024, but the net value of collective asset management plans decreased by 38.68% from the end of 2024, with a total scale of 210.87B yuan, down 16.82% from the end of 2024.

In contrast, the overall performance of other securities asset management subsidiaries remains steady. In terms of net profit scale, Huatai Asset Management leads with 1.14B yuan, the only one surpassing 1 billion yuan; CITIC Securities Asset Management achieved 508 million yuan, Dongzheng Asset Management 428 million yuan, Guotai Haitong Asset Management 408 million yuan, forming a second tier around 400-500 million yuan. HuAn Asset Management achieved 334 million yuan, and China Merchants Asset Management 316 million yuan, following behind.

In terms of year-on-year growth, most companies achieved positive growth, with Xingzheng Asset Management showing the highest increase at 666.67%, from 9 million yuan to 69 million yuan. It should be noted that Xingzheng Asset Management’s base is relatively low. Industrial Securities’ annual report shows that in 2025, Xingzheng Asset Management promoted business transformation toward active management and high value-added services; continued to deepen the “Fixed Income+” strategy, expanding institutional cooperation; and achieved a record high in green finance product scale. Additionally, Zhongtai Asset Management grew by 200% year-on-year, from 48 million yuan to 144 million yuan; Guolian Asset Management increased by 48.84%, from 43 million yuan to 64 million yuan; Galaxy Jin Hui grew by 21.43%, from 56 million yuan to 68 million yuan.

Data from the China Securities Investment Fund Industry Association shows that at the end of 2025, the stock of securities firms’ private fund assets reached 5.8 trillion yuan, a 6.06% increase from the beginning of the year.

A mid-sized securities asset management insider told reporters that amid the continued reduction of non-standard business, the scale of securities asset management still maintained an upward trend in 2025, with both revenue and net profit increasing. As the large-scale transformation of securities firms’ funds basically completes in 2025, the industry is expected to polarize in 2026, with institutions holding public fund licenses facing more development opportunities.

Dual-Drive Strategy of Licensed Securities Asset Managers in Public and Private Funds

As the operating conditions of securities asset management companies in 2025 are gradually disclosed, their development plans for 2026 have also emerged. A clear trend is that companies holding public fund licenses are uniformly emphasizing a dual-drive approach of public and private funds.

Zhongtai Asset Management explicitly proposed to consolidate its traditional advantage in equity products, while addressing shortcomings in index products, expanding sales channels through banks, securities firms, and internet platforms, and making comprehensive efforts.

China Merchants Asset Management aims at passive investment and allocation products, planning to accelerate the construction of a business pattern of public-private synergy by improving its research system. Xingzheng Asset Management continues to focus on the “Fixed Income+” strategy, leveraging its public fund license to proactively develop product lines, and simultaneously advancing digital transformation to build differentiated competitiveness.

In comparison, Huatai Asset Management and CITIC Securities Asset Management emphasize platformization and technological empowerment more.

From the strategic layouts of each company, the dual-drive approach has become a common choice for subsidiaries of securities asset management firms with public fund licenses. On one hand, they leverage the public fund license to expand the mass wealth management market, including pension funds, index funds, and fixed income+ standard products; on the other hand, they utilize their advantages in customized, differentiated private fund services to deepen institutional and high-net-worth client relationships.

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