CITIC Securities, the 'king of brokerages,' releases annual report: Proprietary trading earns 24 billion, 'investment banking' business finds breakthrough

On the evening of March 26, CITIC Securities disclosed its 2024 annual report.

In 2024, CITIC Securities achieved operating revenue of RMB 63.789 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.20%, and realized a net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company of RMB 21.704 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.06%.

It is worth noting that CITIC Securities announced a profit distribution plan for 2024, proposing to distribute a cash dividend of RMB 5.20 per 10 shares (including tax).

Securities Investment Business Growth Leads

The annual report disclosed the details of the revenue increase and decrease of CITIC Securities' main business:

Brokerage business achieved revenue of RMB 16.557 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.92%;

Asset management business achieved revenue of RMB 11.473 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.78%;

Securities investment business achieved revenue of RMB 24.040 billion, a year-on-year increase of 23.95%;

Securities underwriting business achieved revenue of RMB 4.033 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 35.43%;

Other businesses achieved revenue of RMB 7.686 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 8.29%.

It can be seen that the securities investment business has become the "mainstay" of CITIC Securities' revenue growth.

The annual report also mentioned that CITIC Securities' stock proprietary trading business model transformation has achieved phased results, focusing on reducing portfolio volatility and enhancing the ability to withstand external macroeconomic shocks, increasing various non-directional investment layouts, and building a diversified business framework, with different response strategies for strong and weak market conditions to achieve a transformation to an absolute return model.

Bond Underwriting Becomes Investment Banking "Breakthrough"

Looking back at 2024, the scale of equity financing issuance in the A-share market and the scale of major asset restructuring transactions decreased significantly year-on-year, while the scale of bond financing issuance increased year-on-year.

Against this backdrop, CITIC Securities maintained its market leadership in domestic equity financing and debt financing, becoming the first in the industry to achieve a bond underwriting scale exceeding RMB 2 trillion in the same year.

Specifically:

Completed 55 A-share lead underwriting projects, with an underwriting scale (cash and asset types) of RMB 70.359 billion, a market share of 21.87%, ranking first in both IPO and refinancing underwriting scales.

Underwrote 5,088 domestic bonds, with an underwriting scale of RMB 2.09 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 9.49%, accounting for 7.07% of the total underwriting scale in the market and 15.02% of the total underwriting scale of securities companies.

Completed 5 major asset restructuring transactions in the A-share market, with a transaction scale of RMB 19.898 billion, a market share of 23.03%.

As the main sponsor for the New Third Board, completed 12 listing projects, assisting listed companies in raising RMB 446 million through targeted issuance.

Overseas Business Continues to Expand

The annual report disclosed that in the past year, CITIC Securities' Hong Kong stock equity financing business ranking improved to second in the market, and its offshore debt business ranking improved to first in the market In addition, CITIC Securities has completed diversified transactions such as IPOs, placements, rights issues, convertible bonds, block trades, high-yield US dollar bonds, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions in the markets of the United States, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Australia, totaling 47 overseas equity projects.

Wealth Management Clients Increased by Over 10%

For many years, CITIC Securities has been promoting the transformation towards wealth management business.

As of the end of 2024, the total number of clients exceeded 15.8 million, an increase of 12% compared to the end of the previous year; the scale of client assets under custody surpassed RMB 12 trillion, an increase of 18% compared to the end of the previous year.

In addition, CITIC's overseas wealth management layout is also accelerating. The annual report disclosed that in 2024, the sales scale and revenue of overseas wealth management products doubled, with Hong Kong and Singapore serving as the "dual book centers."

Actively Applying Artificial Intelligence

CITIC Securities' annual report mentioned the application of artificial intelligence technology in the investment process.

“ Alternative investment business integrates AI technology. Continuously applying new technologies such as deep learning and large language models to accelerate the development of new strategies, enrich the variety of strategies, and expand revenue sources. At the same time, actively and effectively adjusting strategy allocation based on market style characteristics to achieve excess returns.”

The alternative investment business focuses on strategy development as a key task, continuously increasing research and investment efforts in fundamental quantitative strategies and large language model strategies, while improving the profitability of strategies under the premise of maintaining sufficient diversity and stability.

Notable Performance of Subsidiaries

In terms of major subsidiaries, CITIC Securities has wholly-owned subsidiaries such as CITIC Securities (Shandong), CITIC Securities International, Jinshi Investment, CITIC Futures, and CITIC Securities Asset Management, as well as the holding subsidiary Huaxia Fund.

Among them, Huaxia Fund has total assets of RMB 20.23 billion and net assets of RMB 13.93 billion; in 2024, it achieved operating revenue of RMB 8.03 billion, total profit of RMB 2.845 billion, and net profit of RMB 2.158 billion, with a total of 1,784 employees