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

Broker expansion overseas accelerates. In 2026, leading securities firms will continue to ramp up their overseas expansion. They will increase capital and expand the scale of overseas business entities one after another, and the implementation pace will be markedly faster. Huatai Securities and Everbright Securities have each released announcements related to capital increases for their international subsidiaries.

Data from Soochow Research Institute shows that, as of the end of 2025, domestic securities firms had established 38 overseas first-tier subsidiaries. Their layout is centered around Hong Kong as a core launchpad, gradually extending to emerging and mature markets such as Southeast Asia, Singapore, Japan, and the United States, forming a layout pattern of “Hong Kong as the foundation, with global radiation.”

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

What is also worth noting is that leading firms’ sell-side research overseas has shifted from an optional choice to a required task.

A relevant person at Everbright Securities said that vigorously developing overseas research meets three needs: aligning with the times, serving strategic goals, and driving transformation. Looking ahead to 2026, the company will take cross-border integration as the guide to deepen its global layout. Overseas research, as a key part, will play a crucial role in strengthening the client base and coordinating cross-border business activities.

A “two-super-two-strong” pattern

On the table of the securities firms’ overseas race, the “two-super-two-strong” pattern is still changing dynamically.

From the perspective of revenue, in 2025, Citic Securities’ internationalization strategy accelerated, and the contribution ratio of international business revenue hit a new high again. The annual report shows that overseas business generated RMB 15.52B, up 41.75% year over year, and its share of total revenue increased to 20.7%.

According to Li Chunbo, Chairman of Citic Securities International, in 2025, Citic Securities International, based on consolidating its advantageous position in institutional equity business, also achieved impressive results in investment banking and fixed income business. In investment banking, it ranked first in the PRC offshore bond market, second among sponsors in the Hong Kong IPO market, and second in Asian M&A excluding Japan-based enterprises.

As one of the earliest PRC investment banks to pursue internationalization, CICC further expanded its international network in 2025. It officially opened a branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre in the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first PRC 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 58% year over year, accounting for nearly one-third of total revenue—i.e., more than RMB 8.0 billion.

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

In 2025, Huatai Securities made key breakthroughs across multiple important markets, specifically including: its Singapore subsidiary obtained capital markets services licenses issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and received registration certificates issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India; Huatai Securities (U.S.) obtained both membership as an IPO lead underwriter on the NYSE and qualification as a non-U.S. sovereign debt broker-dealer; and its Japanese subsidiary completed registration and establishment, further完善ing the global value-chain system covering mature markets in Asia, Europe, and the Americas as well as emerging markets.

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

Facing the complex and volatile global financial markets in 2026, Guotai Junan International stated that it will focus on improving the quality and efficiency of its core businesses, continuously完善ing a full-cycle integrated financial services system, further strengthening cross-border, cross-market, and cross-asset service capabilities, and consolidating its leading position among PRC offshore securities firms.

In practice, when looking at smaller and mid-sized securities firms, although some currently have a relatively low proportion of overseas business, as their layout gradually takes hold, their revenue contribution is also increasing.

In this regard, Soochow Securities analyst Sun Ting believes that this is both the result of securities firms increasing their resource投入 into overseas business and完善ing their global service networks, and a direct reflection of the high profitability efficiency and high growth potential of overseas business. In the future, as policies continue to empower the industry and market space keeps expanding, the proportion of overseas business revenue for securities firms is expected to further rise, while the industry’s overall profit structure will be continuously optimized.

Accelerating research overseas

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

Among them, the internationalization of the research business layout has become a key focus for several PRC securities firms.

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, to promote information linkage between the capital markets of China and Vietnam and coordinate research.

CICC also stated that its research team has always kept a close eye on global markets and provides services to domestic and overseas clients by relying on the company’s global institutions and platforms. Its research products and investment analysis cover multiple areas, including macroeconomics, market strategy, fixed income, financial engineering, asset allocation, equities, commodities, and foreign exchange. As of December 31, 2025, CICC’s research team consists of more than 320 experienced professionals, covering more than 40 industries and about 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, meanwhile, established a global research team in 2025. It continues to deepen integrated domestic-and-overseas operational management for research business, expands the coverage of research on overseas listed companies, holds special events such as global investor conferences and the China-Saudi investment cooperation forum, and organizes joint research and survey activities on manufacturing, logistics, and financial sectors in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. It also improves the construction of investment research service systems for different types of client needs, and works to provide professional, in-depth research services for all kinds of institutional clients.

Facing international market competition, a relevant person at Everbright Securities said that its research business has formed two competitive advantages. First, it has a locally based research team with clearly leading advantages, which can provide international investors with research perspectives grounded in local insight and connect with outstanding domestic listed companies. Second, it has the advantage of a full-licensing business model of “one Everbright,” which enables seamless coordination to serve investors both at home and abroad. As a securities firm headquartered in the Greater Bay Area, Everbright Securities is firmly taking the “internationalization” path, using Hong Kong as a bridgehead and continuing to deepen its operations. In 2026, Everbright Securities released an upgraded brand visual for its “Everbright Research” to further express its international development direction and determination.

Building a first-class investment bank

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

From the standpoint of regional layout, the international business of PRC securities firms is highly concentrated in a single market—Hong Kong. Meanwhile, in key financial hubs such as Southeast Asia, Europe and the U.S., and the Middle East, the layout is still at an early stage. A global network has not truly been formed, making it difficult to meet cross-border needs of global corporate and institutional clients.

From the perspective of clients, the international business of PRC securities firms still mainly serves PRC enterprises, China-concept stocks, and cross-border investors from mainland China. The penetration rate among global institutional clients, local overseas enterprises, and multinational companies remains low, leaving huge potential for development in both the client base and average deal contributions. In addition, compared with international investment banks, which allocate a large amount of capital and resources to globalized platforms, domestic securities firms are still in a stage of improvement regarding capital investment into overseas subsidiaries, talent allocation, and system development.

It is understood that CICC has upgraded its internationalization objectives from simply serving “PRC companies going overseas” to competing for global asset pricing power, and focuses on translating strategy into practice. In the past, CICC’s President Wang Shuguang publicly stated that the competition for global pricing power is a long-term “endurance war” that tests “institutional resilience, professional depth, and strategic resolve,” including a systems war and an ecosystem war. PRC investment banks must deeply integrate into the high-level institutional opening of capital markets, clearly explain the long-term logic of China’s economic development to global investors, and guide international capital to shift from “seeing” the China 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 openness of capital markets deepens and the demand for global financing and cross-border wealth management from PRC enterprises continues to be released, international business is expected to become an important support for growth in securities firms’ performance.