Western Securities: Chinese brokers' overseas expansion paths diverge, mature paradigms of international investment banks offer reference

On November 12, Western Securities released a research report stating that the institutional opening-up of the capital market has opened a window for securities firms to expand overseas, cross-border financing and residents' global allocation needs are expanding, and overseas business has become a second growth curve to break through the decline in domestic ROE. The report selected five leading Chinese securities firmsCICC, CITIC Securities, Huatai Securities, Guotai Haitong Securities, and GF Securitiesto benchmark against the internationalization processes of the two major international investment banks, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and reviewed their differentiated overseas expansion models. Among them, CICC, relying on the DNA of its early foreign shareholders, started internationalization earlier and pioneered global layout, with the profit contribution of its overseas segment leading the industry; CITIC Securities started internationalization later by acquiring CLSA and caught up, with its international net profit jumping to first place in the industry in 2025; Huatai Securities is advancing toward an asset-heavy direction, with technology empowerment becoming a distinct differentiated advantage; Guotai Haitong completed the expansion of its overseas footprint through the absorption and merger of Haitong Securities, building an overseas network with the broadest coverage in the industry; GF Securities, based on the locational advantages of the Greater Bay Area, leverages Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect to tap high-net-worth offshore allocation demand. The report also reviewed the globalization processes of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Both followed a gradual expansion rhythm of first establishing a presence in global financial hubs and then penetrating emerging markets. Overseas expansion generally started with cross-border investment banking as the foundation, shifted to deepening existing markets after branch networks became saturated, and relied on mergers and acquisitions to fill shortcomings in wealth and asset management, which can provide a reference for the current internationalization paths of Chinese securities firms.