Recently, 42 pure securities business listed brokerages completed their H1 2025 semi-annual report disclosures. The 42 listed securities firms collectively achieved total operating revenue of 251.9 billion yuan in H1 2025, up 31% year-on-year, and realized net profit attributable to shareholders of 104.0 billion yuan, up 65% year-on-year.

By business segment, the 42 listed brokerages generated combined net asset management fee income of 21.195 billion yuan in H1 2025, down 3.02% year-on-year. Among them, CITIC Securities had the highest income at 5.444 billion yuan, while Hongta Securities had the lowest at only 0.006 billion yuan. Great Wall Securities recorded the fastest revenue growth at 79.27%, while Huatai Securities experienced the largest decline at 59.8%, approaching 60%.

Notably, Huatai Securities (Shanghai) Asset Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Huatai Asset Management"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Huatai Securities, generated revenue of 1.21 billion yuan in H1 2025, exceeding Huatai Securities' asset management fee income of 893 million yuan for the same period, creating an "inversion."

**Huatai Securities Asset Management Fee Income Decline Approaches 60%**

In H1 2025, the 42 listed brokerages' combined net asset management fee income totaled 21.195 billion yuan, down 3.02% year-on-year. Among the 42 brokerages, 27 experienced year-on-year revenue declines, with Huatai Securities posting the largest drop at 59.8%. Additionally, Shoochuang Securities, Pacific Securities, and Huaxi Securities all recorded asset management revenue declines exceeding 50%.

In H1 2025, Huatai Securities' net asset management fee income was 893 million yuan, a significant 59.8% decrease from 2.22 billion yuan in H1 2024. While Huatai Securities did not disclose specific reasons, the company attributed the overall fee income reduction to the sale of a subsidiary in the second half of last year, which created a high year-over-year comparison base.

On September 5, 2024, Huatai Securities completed the sale of AssetMark Financial Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries for a final transaction price of $1.7933 billion (equivalent to RMB 12.755 billion). From the delivery date, Huatai Securities no longer holds any equity in AssetMark.

However, examining Huatai Securities' quarterly performance breakdown shows that the company's Q4 2024 asset management revenue was higher than Q3 before the AssetMark sale.

According to Wind data, Huatai Securities' net asset management fee income in Q4 2024 was 1.113 billion yuan, 300 million yuan higher than Q3's 813 million yuan. Therefore, whether the AssetMark sale significantly impacted Huatai Securities' asset management fee income remains questionable.

The comprehensive implementation of public fund fee reduction policies after July 2024 led to lower management fee rates, which is one reason for the decline in many brokerages' asset management business income. Additionally, channel business, an important revenue source, continues to contract. Although this business has low fee rates, its massive scale previously made it a significant income source for brokerage asset management. As the de-channeling process deepens, this revenue contribution has significantly decreased.

Minsheng Securities Research believes that Huatai Securities' asset management business scale reached 627 billion yuan at the end of H1 2025, up 23.9% year-on-year; however, the average fee rate declined from 0.20% in H2 2024 to 0.15% in H1 2025, indicating continued fee pressure.

Regarding public funds, Huatai Securities' fund subsidiary Southern Asset Management manages 2.59 trillion yuan, up 19.38% year-on-year. Among this, public fund business manages RMB 1.384279 trillion in assets, up 11.60% year-on-year. Huatai-PineBridge manages 730.667 billion yuan in assets, up 44.83% year-on-year.

Notably, profits from Southern Fund and Huatai-PineBridge Fund are recorded as Huatai Securities' investment income from associates and joint ventures, with related revenues not reflected in the asset management income segment. Affected by public fund fee reductions and asset management product transitions, Huatai Securities' current asset management income faces pressure, and whether issues exist regarding active management capabilities requires time to verify.

**Revenue "Inversion" with Asset Management Subsidiary; Net Profit Surges Despite Nearly 2,000 Job Cuts**

The semi-annual report shows that Huatai Securities' asset management subsidiary, Huatai Asset Management, achieved revenue of 1.206 billion yuan in H1 2025, higher than Huatai Securities' consolidated asset management fee income (893 million yuan).

The semi-annual report did not explain this "inversion." In H1 2025, Huatai Asset Management's collective asset management product scale was 108.451 billion yuan, up 83.40%; specialized asset management scale was 202.264 billion yuan, up 15.12%; while single asset management scale decreased (150.408 billion yuan, -6.19%).

In H1 2025, Huatai Securities achieved operating revenue of 16.219 billion yuan, up 31.01% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 7.549 billion yuan, up 42.16% year-on-year.

Despite significant performance growth in H1, Huatai Securities initiated major layoffs. As of the end of H1 2025, Huatai Securities employed 15,027 people, compared to 16,964 employees at the end of 2024. This means Huatai Securities cut nearly 2,000 jobs in H1 despite substantial net profit growth.