The Zhitong Finance App learned that on October 8, KPMG released the 20th Annual China Securities Industry Survey Report — “2026 China Securities Survey Report”. According to the report, 2026 is the beginning of the “15th Five-Year Plan”, and the securities industry will rise to the next level on the basis of simultaneous improvements in performance and quality in 2025. Benefiting from the active equity market, A-share turnover nearly doubled year-on-year in the first half of 2026. 150 securities companies achieved total operating income of RMB 329.8 billion (parent company financial statement caliber, same below), up about 31% year on year, and net profit of RMB 138.7 billion, up 23% year on year. In terms of revenue structure, self-operated businesses have been the largest source of revenue, and brokerage, investment banking, asset management, and credit businesses have all achieved growth.
According to the report, the significance of this round of growth goes beyond the numbers themselves. The industry's accumulation in asset allocation, wealth management, cross-border layout and technology investment over the years has begun to harvest, and the degree of dependence on single market variables has decreased significantly compared to 20 years ago. At the same time, the differentiation between leading institutions and small and medium-sized institutions has intensified, and the expansion of scale, internationalization, and the depth of wealth management transformation are becoming key variables affecting the next stage of the industry pattern. Based on this, the report summarizes five changes that are taking place and are worth looking forward to: functional positioning is being transformed into professional competency, integration is unleashing collaborative value, internationalization is becoming the second growth curve, “table expansion and transformation” is driving value creation, and artificial intelligence is moving from tool to foundation.
Serving the national strategy and intelligent transformation, professional ability becomes a common landing point
Serving science and innovation enterprises and embracing artificial intelligence are no longer a choice of direction for securities companies, but a test of ability.
Zhang Chudong, KPMG's Asia Pacific and China financial management partner, said, “Securities companies are at the intersection of two main lines. One is to serve the real economy. The multi-level capital market is more inclusive of science and innovation enterprises, enabling brokerage firms to participate earlier and more deeply in the growth cycle of science and technology innovation enterprises, which places substantial demands on the ability to understand and price the industry; the other is its own intelligent transformation. Artificial intelligence is being upgraded from auxiliary tools to core productivity, and the competitiveness that is really difficult to replicate will come from data assets, rule systems, and human-robot collaboration experiences that organizations have settled down in real business scenarios. The two main lines ultimately point to the same problem: the continued accumulation of professional competencies.”
Two-way opening-up progressed in depth, and internationalization became the second growth curve
The global layout of Chinese brokerage firms, with Hong Kong, China as its hub and extending to Southeast Asia, has entered a period of centralized implementation, and the share of overseas business revenue has steadily increased; foreign brokerage firms continue to be wholly owned and implemented, and a pattern of mutual promotion and progress between Chinese and foreign institutions is taking shape.
Huang Aizhou, KPMG's financial partner in mainland China, said, “The internationalization of the securities industry is moving from a single point of 'going out' to the stage of deepening the local market. On the one hand, Chinese brokerage firms take on the cross-border financing needs brought about by Chinese companies going overseas and Hong Kong stock listings, and on the other hand, they provide channels for global capital to increase the allocation of Chinese assets. Two-way demand together forms the basis for this round of internationalization of the market. As the volume of overseas business grows, the combined management of cross-border risks and the prudent application of overseas leverage will be as important as business expansion. Only by simultaneously establishing these capabilities during expansion can internationalization grow from incremental business to a sustainable growth curve.”
Integrate and reshape the pattern, and transformation drives value
Industry consolidation and balance sheet expansion are two paths for securities companies to reshape their growth momentum in this cycle.
Wang Guobei, KPMG China's leading partner in the securities and funds industry, said, “The meaning of industry integration is not about adding scale, but about recombining business capabilities. Cultural integration, system integration, and license resource allocation after the merger are the factors that determine whether the collaborative value can be realized. This requires time and strategic strength. At the same time, balance sheet expansion under two-wheel drive in the light and heavy capital business is opening up new value creation space in the fields of derivatives, FICC, etc., and is also placing higher demands on the capital strength and risk pricing capabilities of institutions. These two directions seem to be different. Essentially, they all require institutions to shift the source of growth from market conditions and scale to their own professional capabilities.”
In 20 years, the total assets of China's securities industry increased from 0.67 trillion yuan to 14.83 trillion yuan. The revenue structure evolved from brokerage business accounting for 70% to diversified and balanced, and each cycle left a thicker accumulation than the previous round. Facing the “15th Five-Year Plan,” a series of regulatory reforms around the goal of “building a first-class investment bank and building a modern capital market with Chinese characteristics” are pushing the industry to say goodbye to extensive large-scale expansion. As professional capabilities continue to accumulate in various business lines, the securities industry will become a more solid bridge between the real economy's financing needs and residents' wealth allocation needs with a more balanced revenue structure, more relaxed cycle response, and broader service boundaries.