Not only the closure actions, these contrarian brokerage firms each have their own "secrets" behind the increase in facilities.

Since the beginning of 2026, a wave of adjustments in the layout of securities industry branches continues to surge. On one hand, many securities firms continue to streamline and close down traditional branches with high operating costs and limited outreach capabilities. On the other hand, some securities firms are choosing to counteract this trend by strengthening their regional hub layout through the establishment or upgrading of subsidiaries. Against the backdrop of accelerated transformation in wealth management and the increasing proportion of online business, securities branch institutions are undergoing structural reshaping. The trend of "streamlining" continues, with many securities firms closing branches throughout the year. In 2026, the trend of securities firms closing offline branches continues. Since the beginning of the year, 5 securities firms have joined the list of closures. On February 6, Guotai Haitong announced its decision to close the Zhangzhou Rongxin office building securities branch in order to further optimize its network layout. Similarly, China Great Wall also announced on February 2 its intention to close the Zhengzhou Longhai Road securities branch, joining the network optimization trend. CITIC SEC quickly advanced its network optimization at the beginning of 2026, closing the Hangzhou Jinhua Road and Shaoxing Zhongxing South Road securities branches on January 9 and 10. On January 8, Western announced its decision to close the Weinan Dongfeng Street Second Securities Branch. The company stated that advancing the transformation and rapid development of wealth management business and improving the operational efficiency of branch institutions were the main reasons for this closure. China Post Securities announced the closure of 4 branches on January 7, located in Wuhan Xinhua Road, Jiujiang Xunyang Road, Xi'an Kaiyuan Road, and Shanghai Dongdaming Road. According to China Post Securities, the closure of these branches was due to strategic planning adjustments. If we extend the timeline to 2025, the pace of securities firms closing branches has significantly accelerated, further intensifying the trend of "streamlining" in the industry. According to previous statistics from CaiLian Society, last year the entire industry saw at least 41 securities firms optimizing and adjusting their branch institutions, with a total of 292 branch closures. Compared to the closure of 213 branches by 36 securities firms in 2024, both the breadth of participating institutions and the number of branch closures have shown significant expansion. Counter-trend layouts, Dongfang Securities and Kaiyuan Securities take different actions While the industry is generally "streamlining," some securities firms are choosing to go against the trend and establish new branch institutions as an important move in their strategic layout. Among them, Dongfang Securities and Kaiyuan Securities have made their own layouts. While closing more than a dozen low-efficiency branches in 2025, Orient completed the establishment and upgrade of 7 subsidiaries, achieving a core layout in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta economic circles. Sources from Orient revealed that with the expansion of the number of branch institutions before the establishment of subsidiaries, problems such as long management radii and fragmented command transmission became apparent. The establishment of subsidiaries can complete the organizational structure and form an efficient management closed loop of "headquarters-branch-representative office," supporting the deep transformation of wealth management business to the "buyer's advisory" model. Orient's counter-trend layout is not an isolated case. Recently, four new community-based branch institutions under Kaiyuan Securities in Yulin Fugu, Ankang, Baoji, and Xianyang in Shaanxi Province opened successively, marking a new stage in its strategic deepening in Shaanxi. Facing questions about "why establish branch institutions against the trend," Kaiyuan Securities elaborated to CaiLian Society reporters on the company's strategic considerations. The company believes that although online channels are becoming increasingly important, physical branches still have irreplaceable value in wealth management and deep customer service. Different from the traditional branch institutions with a core function positioning of "account opening and trading," the new branch institutions of Kaiyuan Securities are given a new role. According to introductions, these community-based branch institutions will play three roles: close to customers, serving as "community wealth life managers" and "financial health stations" on the front line; "the terminal carriers of wealth management transformation," directly undertaking the functions of customer segmentation service and demand feedback; a vanguard to help the company achieve its goal of "first-class brokerage business." In terms of service models, Kaiyuan Securities is exploring an "Edward Jones" model adapted to the Chinese environment, creating a "10-minute wealth service circle" in Xi'an and even major cities in the province based on urban planning characteristics. The company plans to use a "small and refined" personnel configuration model, combining investment education with convenient services, deepening cross-industry cooperation to build an ecosystem. Kaiyuan Securities believes that the core competitive advantage of community branch institutions lies in serving surrounding customer groups more deeply, building emotional and ecological barriers that are difficult to replicate in traditional online or high-net-worth-oriented models. "By breaking away from the industry's excessive focus on high-net-worth customer groups, accurately anchoring the vast majority of ordinary community residents in the market, and shifting wealth management from a minority to the masses." Intensive operations support branch expansion Counter-expansion inevitably brings about questions about cost pressure. Kaiyuan Securities stated that the company controls costs, shortens the profit cycle, covers initial investment with "long-term value" such as high customer stickiness and low customer acquisition costs, and achieves a balance between low-cost expansion and sustainable operation. In concrete measures, Kaiyuan Securities adopts a regional layout model of "Wealth Center + Satellite Branches." The Wealth Center creates a standard and integrated offline service model in the regional physical service environment, linking with surrounding community branch institutions to form a wealth management service network that is interconnected and shared. The company also implements counter business processing, with a core focus on "convenience and standardization," catering to both offline counter transactions and online appointments, aiming to solve the pain points of "cross-district transactions" and "waiting in line" for community residents. The company summarized that the expansion model of community branch institutions lies in "controlling costs with standardized decoration + differentiated regional strategies" and balancing expansion with synergy through headquarters support and centralized back-office functions. Kaiyuan Securities stated that the expansion model of community branch institutions focuses on "controlling costs with light assets, enhancing efficiency and quality, and adopting a long-term perspective," making community branches "low-cost, high-value" grassroots service nodes. In addition to the physical branch layouts of the two securities firms mentioned above, in terms of business lines, the organizational structure reforms of some securities firms' headquarters are also progressing synchronously. Recently, Zhongtai announced its plan to establish three subsidiaries for underwriting sponsorship, proprietary trading, and research consulting, operating the three core businesses of investment banking, proprietary trading, and research independently. Guolian Minsheng Securities clarified the professional division of labor for investment banking and wealth management businesses through renaming and capital increase of subsidiaries. China Securities Co.,Ltd. adjusted the "Brokerage Business Management Committee" to the "Wealth Management Committee," with two development centers for retail customers and high-net-worth customers. Behind this wave of counter-trend layouts, securities firms are giving their existing and newly established branch institutions clear positioning and higher expectations than ever before. Positioning restructuring, business upgrading, operational optimization, and technological empowerment have become new competitive focal points. From an industry-wide perspective, the parallel advancement of intensive operations and regional deepening are two key development trends. A branch manager of a securities firm told reporters that the branch layout of securities firms in 2026 will show a more obvious trend of differentiation. Top securities firms may restructure core businesses through specialized subsidiaries, while medium and small securities firms may, like Kaiyuan Securities, seek survival space by deepening regional presence and sinking into communities. The number of physical branches may no longer be the sole measure of strength, but the depth and warmth of their service radius will become the core of the competitiveness of securities firms in the next stage. This article is reproduced from CaiLian Society, GMTEight editor: Chen Wenfang.