Breaking the "Two Super, Two Strong" Monopoly: 38 Securities Firms' Overseas Subsidiaries Compete for Brilliance

Broker Cross-Border Expansion Gains Momentum. In 2026, leading securities firms will continue to ramp up overseas expansion. They will increase capital and expand capacity for their overseas business entities, and the implementation timeline will be notably accelerated. Huatai Securities and GF Securities have both issued related announcements about increasing capital for their international subsidiaries in sequence.

According to figures from Soochow Securities Research Institute, as of the end of 2025, domestic securities firms had established 38 overseas first-tier subsidiaries. The layout regions are anchored by Hong Kong, serving as a core springboard, and then gradually extending to emerging markets and established markets such as Southeast Asia, Singapore, Japan, and the United States, forming a layout posture of “Hong Kong as the foundation, with global radiation.”

At the same time, the share of revenue from securities firms’ overseas businesses continues to rise. Many industry insiders believe that going global has become one of the main lines for long-term growth in the securities industry.

What is worth noting is that leading securities firms’ sell-side research for cross-border expansion has shifted from an optional item to a required answer.

A spokesperson for GF Securities said that vigorously developing overseas research meets three major needs: aligning with the times, serving strategic priorities, and driving transformation. Looking ahead to 2026, the company will take cross-border integration as the leader to deepen its global layout. As a key component, overseas research will play a critical role in strengthening its client base and coordinating cross-border businesses.

“The two superpowers and the two strong players” pattern

On the “table” of securities firms going global, the “two superpowers and the two strong players” pattern is still changing dynamically.

From the perspective of revenue, in 2025, CITIC Securities accelerated its internationalization strategy, and the proportion contributed by international business revenue reached a new high again. The annual report shows that overseas business revenue achieved RMB 15.52B, up 41.75% year on year, and the share of total revenue increased to 20.7%.

According to Li Chunbo, Chairman of CITIC Securities International, in 2025, CITIC Securities International, while consolidating its advantages in institutional equity business, also delivered impressive results in investment banking and fixed-income businesses. In investment banking, it ranked first in the offshore bond market for Chinese issuers, second among sponsor listings in Hong Kong’s IPO market, and second in mergers and acquisitions involving Asian companies excluding Japan.

As one of the earliest Chinese investment banks to pursue internationalization, CICC further expanded its international network in 2025. It formally opened a branch at the Dubai International Financial Centre in the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first Chinese securities firm to establish a licensed branch entity in the Gulf region. The annual report shows that in 2025, CICC’s overseas business revenue increased by 58% year on year, accounting for nearly one-third of total revenue—i.e., more than RMB 8 billion.

Huatai Securities International’s overall strength in business is also firmly among the top Hong Kong-based Chinese securities firms.

In 2025, Huatai Securities achieved key breakthroughs across multiple important markets, specifically including: its Singapore subsidiary obtained capital markets services licenses issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and also obtained a registration certificate issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India; Huatai Securities (U.S.) obtained membership as an IPO lead underwriter on the NYSE and also the qualification as a non-U.S. sovereign debt broker-dealer; its Japan subsidiary completed registration and establishment, further improving the global value-chain coverage system spanning mature markets in Asia, Europe, and the United States as well as emerging markets.

In the same period, Cathay Securities and Hington (Cathay Huatong) actively expanded its overseas business layout and optimized cross-border coordination and linkage mechanisms. Cathay Haitong International’s 2025 performance report shows that the group achieved revenue of HKD 6.23B, up 41% year on year, setting a historical high.

Facing the complex and ever-changing global financial markets in 2026, Cathay Haitong International said it will focus on improving the quality and efficiency of core businesses, continuously完善 the full-cycle comprehensive financial service system, further strengthen cross-border, cross-market, and cross-asset service capabilities, and consolidate its leading position among Chinese offshore securities firms.

In fact, for mid-sized and smaller securities firms, although some currently have relatively low shares of overseas business revenue, as their layout gradually takes effect, their contribution to income is also increasing.

In response, a researcher from Soochow Securities, Sun Ting, believes that this is both the result of securities firms increasing their resource investment in overseas businesses and improving their global service networks, and a direct reflection of the high-profit efficiency and high-growth potential of overseas businesses. In the future, as policies continue to empower the market and market space keeps expanding, the share of revenue from securities firms’ overseas businesses is expected to further rise, while the industry’s overall profitability structure will be continuously optimized.

Powering Up Overseas Research

With overseas business pushing deeper, securities firms’ multi-line businesses—such as wealth management, proprietary trading, and investment banking—are all seeing development opportunities. The industry is expected to achieve cross-border expansion across the entire business chain.

Among them, the international layout of research business is becoming a key focus area for many Chinese securities firms to intensify.

On March 4, Huatai International announced that Huatai Securities and Vietnam’s financial institution SSI Securities Corporation officially established a two-way research report strategic cooperation. Under the agreement, Huatai Securities will build a systematic two-way research sharing mechanism with SSI Securities through its subsidiary Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited, in order to facilitate information docking between the China and Vietnam capital markets and coordinate research activities.

CICC, meanwhile, said that its research team has always been attentive to global markets, and relies on the company’s global institutions and platforms to serve clients at home and abroad. Its research products and investment analysis cover multiple areas, including macroeconomics, market strategies, fixed income, financial engineering, asset allocation, equities, commodities, and foreign exchange. As of December 31, 2025, CICC’s research team consisted of more than 320 experienced professionals, covering more than 40 industries and more than 1,900 companies listed on securities exchanges in mainland China, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, Frankfurt, London, and Paris.

CITIC Construction Investment Securities Research Institute established a global research team in 2025, continuing to deepen the integrated operation of research businesses both within and outside China. It also increased its coverage of overseas listed companies’ research, held specialized conferences such as a global investor conference and a China-Saudi investment cooperation forum, and organized joint research and survey activities on manufacturing, logistics, and finance in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. It also improved the construction of investment research and service systems for different types of clients, striving to provide professional, in-depth research services for all kinds of institutional clients.

Facing competition in international markets, a spokesperson for GF Securities said that its research business has formed two competitive advantages: first, it has a local research team with clearly leading advantages, which can provide international investors with research perspectives grounded in local insight and also connect with excellent listed companies in China; second, it has the full-licensing business advantage of “One GF,” enabling seamless coordination to provide services to investors inside and outside China. As a securities firm headquartered in the Greater Bay Area, GF Securities is firmly committed to taking an “internationalization” path, using Hong Kong as a bridgehead and continuing to deepen its efforts. In 2026, GF Securities released an upgraded “GF Research” brand visual identity, further expressing its international development direction and determination.

Building a First-Class Investment Bank

In the view of industry insiders, compared with world-class investment banks, Chinese securities firms still have a significant gap in the scale and share of international business revenue. There is broad room for improvement in the future.

From the perspective of regional layout, Chinese securities firms’ international business is highly concentrated in the single market of Hong Kong. Their layouts in key financial hubs such as Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States, and the Middle East are still at an early stage. As a result, a true globalized network has not yet been formed, making it difficult to cover cross-border needs of global enterprises and institutional clients.

From the client perspective, Chinese securities firms’ international business services are still mainly aimed at Chinese enterprises, China concept stocks, and cross-border investors from mainland China. The penetration of global institutional clients, overseas local enterprises, and multinational companies remains low. There is huge potential to further mine both the client base and the contribution from average deal size. In addition, compared with international investment banks that allocate a large amount of capital and resources to globalized platforms, domestic firms are still at a stage of enhancement regarding capital investment in overseas subsidiaries, talent allocation, and system building.

It is understood that CICC has upgraded its internationalization goal from simply serving “Chinese companies going global” to striving for global asset pricing power, and has focused on turning strategy into practice. CICC President Wang Shuguang has publicly stated that the contest over global pricing power is a long battle that tests “institutional resilience, professional depth, and strategic determination”—a persistent war involving systems, ecosystems, and the whole chain. Chinese investment banks must deeply integrate into high-level institutional opening in capital markets, clearly explain to global investors the long-term development logic of China’s economy, and guide international capital to shift from “seeing China’s market” to “understanding it, trusting it, and investing in it.”

Sun Ting believes that under the goal of “building a first-class investment bank,” as the two-way opening of capital markets deepens and global financing and cross-border wealth management needs from Chinese enterprises continue to be released, international business has the potential to become an important support for securities firms’ performance growth.

(Author: Li Yu; Editor: Jiang Shiqiang, Zhu Yimin)