Author：Wall Street CN
With the release of the 2025 annual reports of most leading securities firms, a brand-new picture of industry salaries has become clear.
After two years of adjustment, the average salary in the industry showed signs of stabilization in 2025, which clearly reflects the overall industry prosperity stabilizing and gradually emerging from the stagnation phase.
At the same time, salary fluctuations have begun to appear between different institutions, which reflects the differences in the operating conditions of each institution and must also include some statistical variability.
Another prominent feature of securities firm compensation in 2025 is the obvious trend of "averaging" of the salaries of senior executives in top securities firms. The gap between the salaries of top positions in the industry and those of the grassroots has been further narrowed. The latter reflects both the policy trends in recent years and the overall trend of the financial industry to further emphasize fairness and stability.
Average salaries at leading securities firms stabilized
According to Wind's statistics on the annual reports of listed securities firms in the industry, the average salary of securities firms in 2025 tended to stabilize, changing the passive pattern of declining volatility in the past few years.
Calculation method: Average salary per employee = ((Total employee compensation payable: ending balance - Total labor dispatch compensation: ending balance) - (Total employee compensation payable: beginning balance - Total labor dispatch compensation: beginning balance) + (Cash paid to employees and on behalf of employees - Total labor dispatch compensation: increase during the period)) / ((Total number of employees at the beginning of the period + Total number of employees at the end of the period) / 2)
According to the data of listed securities firms disclosed as of April 3, the average salary of securities firms has recovered from the low point in 2024, and many leading institutions have seen a stabilization and slight recovery in salary levels.
As a leading institution in the industry, CITIC Securities' average salary per employee reached 812,800 yuan in 2025, a steady increase from 779,800 yuan in 2024. It became the only securities firm in this statistic to break through the 800,000 yuan mark and continued to maintain its "number one" position.
Following closely behind are companies such as Guolian Minsheng, CICC, Guotai Haitong, GF Securities, Shenwan Hongyuan, Huatai Securities, Guotou Capital (Securities), Zhongtai Securities, and CITIC Securities.
Among them, Guolian Minsheng performed exceptionally well, with average salary per employee surging from 424,900 yuan in 2024 to 783,300 yuan in 2025. Employee compensation payable at the end of the period increased by 418.93% year-on-year, cash paid to and on behalf of employees increased by 114.90% year-on-year, and the total number of employees increased by more than 68.61%.
However, because the latter merged with Minsheng Securities, its annual report clearly reflects the impact of the merger's calculation methods. In the future, it may be more necessary to observe the impact under the medium- to long-term calculation methods.
In contrast, the average salary of employees at institutions such as Shenwan Hongyuan and Huatai Securities remained at around 600,000 yuan, a slight decrease or the same as in the previous two years.
Overall management compensation has shrunk.
In stark contrast to the recovery in average salaries, the total compensation of executives at leading securities firms continued to shrink or remain flat in 2025. With policy encouragement, the tendency toward “fairness” in compensation among various institutions is quite evident.
Taking the aforementioned leading company, CITIC Securities, as an example, the total annual compensation of its management team reached as high as 94.63 million yuan in 2023, plummeted to 28.75 million yuan in 2024, and further decreased to 25.98 million yuan in 2025.
CITIC Securities followed a similar trajectory, declining from 47.01 million yuan in 2023 to 16.11 million yuan in 2025. Huatai Securities, on the other hand, saw its investment decrease from 40.07 million yuan in 2023 to 14.88 million yuan in 2025.
Against the backdrop of a decline in total compensation, the absolute salaries of chairmen and general managers have gradually stabilized at a new benchmark.
For example, the chairman of CITIC Securities' salary remained around 2.3 million yuan in both 2024 and 2025; the chairman of CICC's salary also remained stable at around 1.43 million yuan, both of which are quite different from the "highest-paid employee" image that the industry used to talk about.
The central level of senior management salaries in various institutions has fluctuated.
Of course, the central level of management compensation varies from institution to institution, which may be related to differences in company policies, regions, and shareholders.
For example, among the top ten institutions, the overall salaries of senior executives at Zhongtai Securities are relatively average (see chart below). The chairman and general manager are at the upper limit of their salaries, with an annual pre-tax compensation of approximately 786,100 yuan. Several chief executives and vice presidents earn around 770,000 yuan. The chief financial officer earns only 405,800 yuan, and the vice president and board secretary, Zhang Hao, earns only 598,200 yuan. Even the former board secretary, Zhang Hui (female), received 453,200 yuan in compensation for the first six months.
Overall, the average salary disclosed by senior executives of Zhongtai Securities, a local-level securities firm, is relatively low, with a wide gap in distribution, and the distribution pattern is not easy for outsiders to understand.
Guolian Minsheng represents another type of mid-sized securities firm, characterized by its market orientation and professional management. Their compensation mechanism is also quite unique (see below).
According to the 2025 annual report, the newly appointed chairman, Gu Wei, took office mid-year and did not receive any remuneration from the company. President and Executive Director Ge Xiaobo's annual income was 2.0347 million yuan, which is relatively high among senior executives, but he is not the highest earner. The highest earner is Xu Chun, the vice general manager who also serves as the director of the Guolian Minsheng Research Institute, with a pre-tax income of 2.4225 million yuan.
In addition, the income of most of the vice presidents of Guolian Minsheng is around 1.64 million yuan, while some newly appointed executives may have an income of around 1.2 million yuan because they have not been in office for a full year.
As a long-established state-owned securities firm and a subsidiary of a large central enterprise, China Merchants Securities' salary levels are also of great interest. Its 2025 annual report shows that its brokerage compensation is quite similar to that of the market-oriented Guolian Securities and Minsheng Securities (see below).
Chairman Huo Da's annual salary reached 2.28 million yuan. In addition, Vice President (Chief Financial Officer) and Board Secretary Liu Jie's salary was 1.7105 million yuan. Vice President Liu Rui's salary was 1.8248 million yuan, and Vice President Liu Bo's salary was 1.7105 million yuan. These vice presidents' salaries are in the second tier.
The company president, Zhu Jiangtao, received a salary of 1.3712 million yuan, while the vice president, compliance director, and chief risk officer, Zhang Xing, received 1.4 million yuan. Vice president Wang Zhijian received 1.0638 million yuan. All three were appointed within the year, and their total salaries may not reflect all aspects of the compensation package.
Guangfa Securities, with its relatively good management and high level of marketization, had a relatively generous total management compensation in 2025 (see chart below).
Specifically, Chairman Lin Chuanhui received pre-tax compensation of 3.617 million yuan, and General Manager Qin Li received 3.5688 million yuan. Executive Director and Vice General Manager Xiao Xuesheng received 3.1694 million yuan, and Vice General Manager Hu Jinquan received 3.1472 million yuan. Other vice general managers such as Ouyang Xi, Zhang Wei, and Yi Yangfang received similar compensation. Overall, the salaries of senior executives at GF Securities are relatively close, with little difference between them.
Of course, the above figures are the publicly disclosed salaries of various companies, and there may be various discrepancies in their reporting. However, it is not difficult to see that the biggest characteristic of securities firm salaries in 2025 is "stable average salaries, reduced salaries for senior executives, and an overall departure from high-salary packages." Based on the published data, the securities industry's compensation system is moving away from the past "high-salary" model, instead emphasizing fairness and long-term commitment. The impact of this on the industry remains to be seen.
