Haitong International: Digital Transformation, AI Penetration, and the Ongoing Competition in Brokerage Financial Technology

According to the Zhitong Finance APP, Haitong International released a research report stating that the continuous investment in information technology by securities companies is increasingly showing its supporting and leading role in improving customer experience, promoting business development, enhancing operational efficiency, and reducing risk costs. It has become an industry consensus that securities companies are increasing their investment in information technology and strengthening financial technology empowerment. Especially since 2025, DeepSeek has swept the globe, accelerating the deployment and penetration of AI large models in the securities field. Artificial intelligence is triggering a revolution in the underlying technical architecture of the securities industry, which is expected to lead a new wave of technological investment by securities companies. It is recommended to pay attention to securities IT service providers: Hundsun (600570.SH), KINGDOM (600446.SH), Apex (603383.SH). Haitong International's main viewpoints are as follows: According to statistics, the top ten securities companies in terms of information technology investment in 2024 are all leading comprehensive securities companies in China, with each company's investment amount exceeding 1 billion yuan. Among them, Huatai Securities and Guotai Haitong invested more than 2 billion yuan. The total amount of information technology investment by the top ten securities companies is 15.579 billion yuan, a slight increase of 1.4% compared to 2023, with seven securities companies increasing their investment amount year-on-year, while three securities companies saw a decrease. The top three securities companies in terms of year-on-year growth rate of information technology investment in 2024 are First Capital Securities, Caida Securities, and Everbright Securities, with growth rates exceeding 20%. Most of the top ten securities companies with the highest growth rates are small and medium-sized securities companies, with only two companies investing more than 500 million yuan, namely Guoxin Securities and Everbright Securities. Guoxin Securities is the only securities company that ranks in the top ten for both the amount and growth rate of information technology investment in 2024. In June 2023, the China Securities Association issued the "Three-Year Improvement Plan for Network and Information Security of Securities Companies (2023-2025)", encouraging operating institutions to ensure that the average investment amount in information technology is no less than 10% of the average net profit or 7% of the average operating income from 2023 to 2025. According to statistics, the top ten securities companies in terms of information technology investment in 2024 have their investment amount accounting for more than 10% of net profit, with the top three being Guotou Securities, Haitong International, and Huatai Securities. In terms of the proportion of operating income, among the top ten securities companies in terms of investment, only Galaxy Securities and Shenwan Hongyuan have a proportion of information technology investment lower than 7%, while the remaining securities companies all have this proportion above 7%. The "Three-Year Improvement Plan for Network and Information Security of Securities Companies (2023-2025)" encourages qualified securities companies to gradually increase the proportion of information technology professionals to 7% of the total number of employees based on their actual situation. According to statistics, among the top ten securities companies in terms of information technology investment in 2024, seven have disclosed the number of information technology personnel, with four companies having the proportion of information technology personnel exceeding 7%, namely China Merchants Securities (16.3%), Shenwan Hongyuan (8.6%), Haitong International (7.4%), and GF Securities (7.1%); three securities companies have a proportion of information technology personnel below 7%, namely CITIC Construction Investment (6.8%), Guoxin Securities (5.9%), and Galaxy Securities (5.5%) Risk Warning: The information technology investment of securities companies is lower than expected, and the development of financial technology is not as anticipated