While compiling information on securities firms, an industry observer noticed something unusual: the official association list alphabetically details 150 brokerages. However, the list of registered practitioners only contains 149 entities.

The missing firm, Shanghai Haicheng Securities Asset Management Co., Ltd., evokes memories among industry veterans. Once managing hundreds of billions in assets and firmly positioned among the industry's leaders, Haicheng Asset Management has quietly faded into history.

The Inception Year of Asset Management

The story of Haicheng Asset Management's creation begins in 2012.

That year, the securities regulator released new rules for securities companies' client asset management business, effectively "unshackling" the brokerage asset management sector. Haicheng Securities was quick to seize the opportunity, establishing a wholly-owned subsidiary based on its former Client Asset Management Department.

Shanghai Haicheng Securities Asset Management Co., Ltd. was formally incorporated on June 26, 2012, commencing operations in July of the same year with an initial registered capital of 2.2 billion yuan, making it one of the largest securities-affiliated asset managers by capital at the time.

It was a golden era for brokerage asset management. Public funds dominated mass retail wealth management, trust companies were busy acting as conduits, and brokerage asset managers had just received their official operating license, leading to fierce competition.

Haicheng Asset Management was not the earliest entrant—Guojin Asset Management Co., Ltd., for instance, was established in 2010. However, it entered the market with significant force.

In 2013, Haicheng Asset Management launched its "Yingcaishengxin" series of products, pioneering the brokerage asset management wealth product space. It then expanded rapidly across public offerings, directed asset management, collective asset plans, special asset management, and QDII businesses.

By the end of 2024, Haicheng Asset Management's assets under management (AUM) had reached 106.982 billion yuan, ranking 14th in the industry. Its operating revenue for that year was 470 million yuan, with a net profit of 193 million yuan.

A scale of one hundred billion and a profit nearing two hundred million would constitute a formidable company in any industry.

A Sudden Shift in 2025

However, fate took a sharp turn in 2025.

In April 2025, the merger of Guojin Securities and Haicheng Securities was completed, forming the first major brokerage merger following the implementation of new regulatory guidelines. The original Haicheng Securities—a veteran firm founded in 1988 and weathering over three decades of market cycles—was absorbed into Guojin Securities.

With the parent entity gone, what rationale remained for the subsidiary's independence?

On July 25, 2025, the board of the merged entity, Guojinhai Securities, convened a meeting via correspondence, approving the absorption of Haicheng Asset Management by Guojin Asset Management Co., Ltd.. On the same day, Guojin Asset Management completed the market entity registration change, renaming itself Shanghai Guojinhai Securities Asset Management Co., Ltd.

The announcement sent shockwaves through the industry.

This marked the first merger and restructuring of asset management subsidiaries within China's securities sector. Post-merger, the combined AUM approached 700 billion yuan, solidifying a top-tier industry position. Guojin Asset Management's AUM was 588.430 billion yuan at the end of 2024, and Haicheng Asset Management's was 106.982 billion yuan, summing to approximately 695.412 billion yuan.

In this case, one plus one indeed proved greater than two.

The Nine-Month Merger Campaign

The process lasted a full nine months, from initiation in July 2025 to completion in April 2026.

The consolidation work spanned all front, middle, and back-office areas including corporate governance, market channels, product systems, and operational systems. The most significant challenge was product migration—involving thousands of accounts and tens of thousands of system changes, covering complex multi-dimensional tasks like product renaming and custody transfers.

The merged asset manager, Guojinhai Asset Management, coordinated its front, middle, and back offices as one, adhering to the principle of "uninterrupted business, continuous systems, and seamless client experience." Ultimately, it achieved stable valuation and settlement for nearly 4,000 products and accurate settlement for nearly 300,000 transaction instructions.

Another thorny issue was the industry-wide 2025 deadline for restructuring large collective asset plans operating under public fund-like rules. Haicheng Asset Management's original 10 such plans had to be converted into public funds and have their manager switched to Guojinhai Asset Management. Not only was this restructuring completed on schedule, but it also resulted in a leap in management scale from 1.8 billion yuan to 15.4 billion yuan.

The merger's effects were immediate. Guojinhai Securities' 2025 annual report disclosed that, at the reporting period end, the asset management subsidiary's AUM was 750.7 billion yuan, an increase of 55.3 billion year-on-year; public fund AUM exceeded 110 billion yuan, up 43% year-on-year; and operating revenue surpassed 2.3 billion yuan, firmly ranking first in the industry.

Absent, But Not Extinct

Haicheng Asset Management may have disappeared, but its assets, business, and personnel have not.

All employees were wholly absorbed by Guojinhai Asset Management. Ye Ming, former Deputy General Manager of Haicheng Asset Management (acting in charge), assumed the role of Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at the merged entity post-consolidation, and was promoted to President in June of this year. Tao Geng, former General Manager of Guojin Asset Management, concurrently served as Chairman of both asset management companies in 2025, leading the entire merger process.

The corporate entity is gone, but the people remain; the sign has changed, but the business continues.

Reviewing those two association lists, the discrepancy between 150 and 149 firms is precisely "Shanghai Haicheng Securities Asset Management Co., Ltd.". It vanished from the Excel spreadsheet and from the map of the brokerage industry landscape.

Founded in 2012, deregistered in 2026. Fourteen years—a complete cycle.

From the asset management department of Haicheng Securities, to an independent subsidiary, to an industry leader with a hundred-billion scale, and finally to absorption and merger. Haicheng Asset Management completed its journey. It did not fall in market competition but was dissolved due to its parent company's merger.

This might be the most dignified exit for a brokerage asset manager: not bankruptcy and liquidation, but a powerful consolidation, becoming part of a larger platform.

The industry will no longer have Haicheng Asset Management.

But the industry will remember that there was once an asset management company that started from No. 689 Guangdong Road, and over fourteen years, wrote a legend of a hundred-billion scale.