On November 20th China International Capital Corporation (CICC), a multinational investment bank, announced plans to acquire smaller rivals Dongxing Securities and Cinda Securities. The three have combined total assets of just over Rmb1trn (US$140bn) as of end-September, according to exchange data, making the merged firm the country’s fourth-largest brokerage by assets.
The move comes amid a rising trend of consolidation in China’s financial services sector, driven by government efforts to create global-scale financial institutions. Under the ‘Nine New Guidelines’ released in April last year, the government has called for building “first-class investment banks” with the scale to advance capital market reforms and direct more funds to strategic industries. Authorities view consolidation as the fastest way to achieve this scale: larger merged institutions can share balance-sheet capacity, increase revenues by cross-selling across corporate and retail clients, and spread fixed technology costs across a much wider asset base.
This institutional strengthening is also essential for deepening offshore renminbi markets. The government’s aim of increasing global usage of the Chinese currency requires large investment banks capable of underwriting offshore renminbi bond issuance, market-making in renminbi liquidity hubs such as Hong Kong and connecting onshore funds with offshore financing demand. The fragmented nature of China’s securities sector has previously constrained this capacity.
Over the next few years, larger brokerages such as the enlarged CICC will assume a more prominent role in facilitating renminbi-denominated financing for state-linked corporates and Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI) borrowers. The massive scale and balance sheet capacity of these brokerages will be critical for handling the complex, long-term and multi-jurisdictional underwriting required for large infrastructure projects spanning the BRI routes. Their increased footprint will also better facilitate the international syndication and placement of renminbi-denominated debt needed to fund these projects.
That said, comprehensive internationalisation remains a long-term project. The process will remain gradual and state-orchestrated rather than market-led, but the creation of scaled intermediaries will enable more practical progress in the form of wider corporate adoption in trade settlement, higher presence in syndicated lending and slow gains in global financial share from a low base. We expect China’s brokerage sector to consolidate further as smaller firms face margin pressure, regulatory demands and competitive disadvantage, leaving a narrower set of large firms controlling a growing share of market assets.
Financial services outlook 2026
In 2026, financial institutions face rising systemic risk, regulatory divergence and mounting pressure on margins. As climate-related losses grow and digital finance evolves, firms must navigate a more politically exposed and operationally complex environment.
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