(Yicai Global) March 19 -- Citic Securities, China’s biggest brokerage, has become the country’s first securities firm to have assets of more than CNY1 trillion (USD153.6 billion), but it posted annual profit that was less impressive than many of its listed peers.

Citic Securities’ assets stood at CNY1.05 trillion at the end of December, a 33 percent increase from a year earlier, according to the Shanghai-based firm’s earnings report published yesterday.

It did not explain the reason behind the asset growth, but various of its businesses performed well last year. The firm was principal underwriter for 158 initial public offerings in the Chinese mainland, underwritingCNY313.6 billion in an annual increase of 12.1 percent, with an 18.9 percent market share.

Full-year net profit rose 21.9 percent to CNY14.9 billion (USD2.29 billion) after a CNY6.58 billion impairment provision, ranking Citic Securities amongthe lowest of its listed Chinese peers.Operating revenue gained 26.1 percent to CNY54.4 billion.

All the large and medium-sized brokerages that have released 2020 performance results or updates so far have reported net profit increases higher than Citic Securities. The expected increase for China Securities was almost 73 percent, with East Money Information at 100 percent and China International Capital at between 61 percent and 78 percent.

Most of the brokerages reported a big increase in business performance last year thanks to the busy stock market trading activity and a significant gain in underwriting income, boosted by Chinese firms' booming financing needs as the registration-based initial public offering system came into broader use.

As much as CNY526 billion was solicited in the Chinese stock market last year, up 74.7 percent from 2019, data from the Securities Association of China showed. Annual turnover from China's two main bourses, Shanghai and Shenzhen, totaled CNY206.83 trillion, an annual gain of 62 percent, according to data from the central bank.

Despite its lower growth, Citic Securities' annual profit made up almost 10 percent of the securities industry's total, consolidating its leading position in China. Last year, the industry had net profits of CNY157.5 billion, up 28 percent for the year, according to SAC data published on Feb. 23.

The firm remained China’s debt financing leader, underwriting as much as CNY1.3 trillion worth of bonds, an annual gain of nearly 28 percent. That accounted for 12.9 percent of the total underwritten by brokers, ranking first in the industry.

Citic Securities also completed CNY277.7 billion worth of A-share material asset restructuring transactions, with a market share of 43.5 percent, also No. 1 in the industry.

Editor: Tom Litting