Brokerages accelerate capital increase for Hong Kong subsidiaries; international business structure shifts toward full-chain transformation

China Financial News, March 27 - Since the beginning of this year, securities firms have been accelerating the increase of capital for their Hong Kong subsidiaries, with at least eight listed securities firms currently advancing capital increase matters. Among them, both China Merchants Securities and Huatai Securities plan to increase capital for their international subsidiaries, with amounts not exceeding HKD 9 billion, while Guangfa Holdings (Hong Kong) plans to increase capital not exceeding HKD 6.101 billion. Currently, the structure and dimensions of securities firms’ international business have changed, no longer limited to investment banking services such as IPOs and bond issuance, and no longer solely focusing on brokerage channel services. Instead, they are moving towards a full-chain service model for international investment banking. A CEO from a leading Chinese securities firm told the Securities Times reporter: “We have gradually built a cross-border one-stop product and trading platform with certain characteristics, providing full-process services for domestic and foreign investors, covering cross-border transactions, product creation, and derivatives hedging, an area that used to be the forte of foreign investment banks.”