China’s top brokerages step up global push as overseas profits surge

China's largest brokerages are moving aggressively into global markets, channeling billions of yuan into their overseas operations as cross-border deal-making accelerates and international profits climb. The shift reflects both the firms' own ambition and Beijing's deliberate backing of investment banks that can compete on the world stage.

Citic Securities, among China's top brokerages, generated 15.86 billion yuan—roughly $2.4 billion—from operations outside mainland China in the first half of 2026, a jump of 45.5 percent from the same period a year earlier. That growth rate actually exceeded the firm's overall revenue increase of 44.1 percent, signaling that international business is now the engine pulling the company forward. Its dedicated international arm, Citic Securities International, posted even more dramatic numbers: operating revenue of $2.32 billion and net profit of $829 million, both surging more than half the year-over-year comparison, with the profit figure doubling. The arm's total assets swelled to $91.43 billion, 60 percent higher than twelve months prior.

The scale of Citic's deal-making abroad underscores the breadth of this expansion. In just six months, the firm completed 44 overseas equity transactions worth $4.22 billion, including two major initial public offerings in Malaysia. It shepherded 96 offshore bond issuances for Chinese companies and orchestrated 28 global mergers and acquisitions valued at $22.88 billion involving Chinese firms. These transactions span Southeast Asia and Europe, painting a picture of a brokerage no longer confined to Asian markets but reaching across continents.

Citic is not alone in this trajectory. China International Capital Corporation, another heavyweight in the sector, reported overseas revenue of 9.19 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, up 45 percent from 6.34 billion yuan a year earlier. Notably, this international growth outpaced CICC's overall revenue expansion of 39.2 percent, meaning the company's global business is growing faster than its domestic operations. Overseas revenue now represents roughly 35 percent of CICC's total, up from 34 percent the previous year—a seemingly modest shift that reflects a deliberate rebalancing of the firm's portfolio toward international markets.

CICC's Hong Kong IPO business illustrates the momentum in specific deal categories. The firm sponsored 27 Hong Kong listings in the first half of 2026 with an underwriting value of $5.74 billion, more than double both the deal count and the dollar volume from the prior year's 13 transactions worth $2.87 billion. CICC International, the company's international subsidiary, held total assets of 448.6 billion Hong Kong dollars at the end of June, while net profit climbed 65 percent year-over-year to 4.35 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Guotai Haitong, mentioned alongside Citic and CICC as part of this broader push, is similarly expanding its cross-border capabilities, though the interim reports highlight Citic and CICC's scale most vividly. The pattern across these firms is consistent: overseas operations are growing faster than domestic business, capital is flowing into international arms, and deal volumes are climbing across multiple categories—equities, bonds, and mergers and acquisitions.

This acceleration reflects both market opportunity and policy tailwind. Beijing has signaled its commitment to building investment banks capable of competing globally, and the major brokerages are responding by investing heavily in their overseas infrastructure and hiring talent abroad. The first-half 2026 results suggest that strategy is paying off, at least in terms of revenue and profit growth. What remains to be seen is whether these firms can sustain this pace as they move beyond Asia into more competitive Western markets, and whether the quality of their international earnings will hold up as the initial wave of expansion matures.