A-share brokerages have kicked off the year with strong performance in their margin trading and securities lending business. Recent data shows that the number of new margin trading and securities lending accounts reached 190,500 in January 2026, an increase of 29.5% month-on-month and a significant rise of 157% year-on-year. According to Wind data, as of January 30, 21 listed brokerages have disclosed their 2025 performance forecasts or preliminary results. Leading brokerages such as CITIC Securities and Guotai Junan have continued to consolidate their market-leading positions. CITIC Securities reported a net profit attributable to shareholders exceeding RMB 30 billion for 2025, while Guotai Haitong is expected to achieve a year-on-year net profit growth rate of over 100%. Small and medium-sized brokerages demonstrated even greater earnings flexibility, with GLMS SEC projecting a net profit growth rate exceeding 400% year-on-year for 2025. Brokerage business and proprietary trading were the core drivers of performance growth for these listed brokerages in 2025. Industry insiders indicated that the A-share market was active in 2025, and the high profitability of brokerages is expected to continue. They recommend paying attention to investment opportunities in the brokerage sector driven by improving performance. It is understood that the simultaneous advancement of increased market activity and counter-cyclical policy adjustments has pushed the margin trading and securities lending balance to a historical high. Institutions are generally optimistic that brokerage performance will receive a boost as a result. A research report from China Securities stated that listed brokerages generally achieved high profit growth in 2025, primarily benefiting from a year-on-year increase in average daily trading volume and the maintenance of a high margin trading and securities lending balance. Several brokerages saw net profit increases exceeding 70%. At the same time, the implementation of reserve requirement ratio cuts, interest rate reductions, and plans for medium- to long-term capital market entry, along with optimizations in classification evaluations, have created capital space for high-quality brokerages. Mergers and acquisitions have also yielded significant results. On a macroeconomic level, the economy successfully achieved its 5% growth target, and capital market activity reached a ten-year high, providing solid support for performance. Currently, the price-to-book (PB) valuation of the sector is only 1.36 times, situated at a medium level historically. Performance improvements and policy dividends are expected to drive the valuation benchmark upward. Hong Kong-listed stocks related to Chinese brokerages include: Huatai Securities (06886), GF Securities (01776), China Galaxy (06881), GTHT (02611), China International Capital Corporation (03908), CITIC Securities (06030), China Securities (06066), Oriental Securities (03958), Everbright Securities (06178), Shenwan Hongyuan (06806), Central China Securities (01375), GLMS SEC (01456), among others.