After ten years of preparation for a public offering, will Bohai Securities finally open the door to the capital market?

Ask AI · How does Bohai Securities’ compliance rectification affect its listing process?

Amid volatility in the capital markets, Bohai Securities proactively adjusted its business layout, broke through the bottleneck of proprietary trading dependency, and built a distinctive business pattern of “two horizontals and one vertical.”

Produced by | China Fang Net

Reviewed by | Li Xiaoyan

As the only comprehensive legal-person securities firm in Tianjin, Bohai Securities has grown steadily through more than a decade of refinement in the capital markets while serving the region’s economic development and industrial upgrading. Although it has recently received regulatory warning letters due to the conduct of certain employees, alongside challenges such as a temporary halt in the IPO process and phased fluctuations in performance, drawing market attention, the company is steadily tackling development challenges with a reform resolve of cutting inward, a systematic and comprehensive reshaping of compliance, and a strategic upgrade focusing on the real economy—building momentum for a new journey of high-quality development.

On April 3, 2026, the Tianjin Securities Regulatory Bureau issued a warning letter to Bohai Securities, directly pointing to issues in employee account management and cross-departmental performance of duties. The company immediately launched a comprehensive investigation and special rectification. In fact, amid the new normal of stricter regulation across the industry, Bohai Securities has long placed compliance and risk control at the top of its development priorities, building a governance system of “the Party committee coordinates overall, full coverage of all staff, and control throughout the process.” Since 2025, the company has conducted 67 compliance supervision sessions in total, revised more than 30 core business rules and regulations, compiled an internal control management manual, incorporated top ten risk prevention and control measures into the Party committee’s annual key tasks, and pushed the risk-control gate forward.

In response to the issues raised in the warning letter, the company quickly set up a special working group, seriously held the relevant personnel accountable, fully reviewed employees’ securities accounts, professional conduct, and job authority, and established a dynamic “one person, one file” management mechanism. It strictly prohibits cross-appointments in sensitive roles such as proprietary trading and investment banking, blocking potential conflicts of interest from the source. At the same time, it strengthened compliance training and warning-based education for all staff, included compliance assessment in performance-based promotion under a “one-vote veto,” and drove a profound cultural shift from “compliance because I have to” to “I want to comply.” This regulatory warning is both pressure and an important opportunity for the company to improve internal control and strengthen its defenses, laying a solid foundation for long-term stable operations.

Since starting IPO tutoring in 2016, Bohai Securities has gone through key milestones such as tutoring filing, application inquiries, and the shift to the registration-based regime. Although the process was temporarily slowed due to factors such as changes in accounting firms and changes in the regulatory environment, the company has always stayed committed to its listing goal and has continuously standardized corporate governance. The current review status is “already under inquiry.” The company is implementing the regulator’s feedback one by one, comprehensively reviewing its equity structure, internal control processes, and information disclosure, and aligning with listing requirements at a higher standard.

Regarding the equity and governance issues attracting market attention, Bohai Securities actively coordinated with shareholders to resolve debt disputes, standardized equity transfer procedures, and ensured that equity ownership is clear and stable. At the same time, it optimized the mechanisms for selecting and evaluating executives to attract specialized talent. Since 2025, it has completed the term-renewal adjustments of the board of directors and the board of supervisors, building a governance team characterized by “professionalism, stability, and efficiency,” and ensuring continuity in strategic execution. Although the road to listing is full of challenges, ten years of preparation has enabled the company to achieve a qualitative leap in areas such as financial compliance, internal control construction, and information disclosure, accumulating sufficient momentum for entering the capital market.

Amid volatility in the capital markets, Bohai Securities proactively adjusted its business layout, broke through the bottleneck of proprietary trading dependency, and built a distinctive business pattern of “two horizontals and one vertical.” On the one hand, it strengthens the advantages of the fixed-income full industrial chain to consolidate the fundamental base of traditional businesses; on the other hand, it pushes forward in innovative areas such as institutional wealth management, asset securitization, and tech-innovation finance, building a “second growth curve.”

From 2025 to today, the effectiveness of the company’s business transformation has been significant: its brokerage business has accelerated digital transformation, with a major improvement in the efficiency of online services, and revenue in the first half of 2025 increased by 37% year over year; the investment banking business focuses on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), and specialized and innovative enterprises, supporting multiple tech firms to list on the capital markets. It has taken the lead in issuing the first central-government-entity data-asset ABS in the country, and the first state-owned enterprise real-estate CMBS in Fuzhou, with an innovative financing scale exceeding RMB 3.8 billion; the asset management business has steadily expanded its discretionary management scale, and products such as “Bohai Zhiti” have gained market recognition; the subsidiaries and Rongqi Futures have deepened risk management to help industries including ports and photovoltaics reduce costs and improve efficiency. The business structure has shifted from “proprietary trading dominance” to “multi-sector synergy,” and its risk-resilience has been significantly enhanced.

As a local securities firm, Bohai Securities has always upheld its original intention of “serving the country through finance and serving Tianjin,” deeply integrating into the “ten initiatives” for the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei and for Tianjin’s high-quality development. The company has innovated a service model of “five investments coordinated and three integrations advanced,” established 7 equity investment funds with a total scale of nearly RMB 500 million, and invested in hard-tech enterprises such as Horizon Robotics and Xinpa Intelligent, helping “China’s chips” and “smart manufacturing” move toward the global stage.

At the same time, it actively fulfills social responsibilities, continuing to advance in fields such as inclusive finance, investor education, and rural revitalization, with the number of services provided by the investor education base increasing year after year. In response to regional industrial upgrading needs, the company has rolled out “one industry, one policy” financial solutions, providing full-cycle capital market services for featured industries such as high-end manufacturing, information technology innovation and application (IT), and shipping. It demonstrates the responsibility and担当 of a local financial mainstay by nourishing the real economy with financial “fresh water.”

He who walks a hundred miles has completed only half at ninety. The compliance, performance, IPO, and other issues faced by Bohai Securities in its development are both common challenges during the industry’s transformation period and an inevitable passage for its own reform and upgrading. At present, the company is determined to “rectify one problem, improve a set of systems, and standardize a category of behavior,” and to completely close compliance gaps. It will, through a path of business diversification, service specialization, and refined management, solve the difficulties caused by performance fluctuations. With determination in standardized governance, focusing on core businesses, and serving the real economy, it will steadily advance IPO preparation.

Hone a sword for ten years, and earn the fragrance of plum blossoms. From compliance reshaping to business innovation, from governance optimization to service upgrading, Bohai Securities is moving forward with the reform courage of risking everything and the down-to-earth spirit of hard work—seizing opportunities in challenges and opening a new chapter amid changing circumstances. In the future, as its compliance system improves, the results of its transformation are released, and the IPO process advances, this long-established Tianjin-based securities firm will surely break through its predicament, and with an even more stable posture and higher-quality services, move steadily toward long-term success in the capital markets—contributing greater strength to regional economic development and industry growth.

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