Scale Breaks Trillion Yuan for the First Time! Foreign Institutions like UBS and JPMorgan Join, Brokerage Rankings Released

Recently, the China Securities Association released a special statistical report on the underwriting of securities company bonds (including corporate bonds) for 2025.

Data shows that in 2025, 83 securities firms participated as the main underwriters for Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds, an increase of 23 firms year-on-year; the underwriting amount for Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds reached 1,021.935 billion yuan, a 66.52% increase compared to the previous year.

The new participating firms include several foreign securities firms such as UBS Securities and J.P. Morgan (China). In terms of underwriting scale rankings, leading positions are mainly held by top-tier firms, including CITIC Securities, CITIC Construction Investment, Guotai Haitong, and others. Industry insiders believe that the push by securities firms into Sci-Tech Innovation Bond underwriting may be related to new policies introduced since 2025.

Sci-Tech Innovation Bond Underwriting Surpasses 1 Trillion Yuan

According to reports, the China Securities Association’s special statistics cover securities firms’ underwriting activities on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and Beijing Stock Exchange for green bonds (including asset-backed securities), low-carbon transition bonds, Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds, rural revitalization bonds (including asset-backed securities), Belt and Road bonds, support bonds for small and micro enterprises, private enterprise bonds (including asset-backed securities), and local government bonds.

Securities firms’ involvement in these bond types shows that Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds lead significantly, breaking the 1 trillion yuan mark for the first time.

In 2025, 58 securities firms served as lead underwriters (or asset securitization managers) for green bonds, underwriting or managing 218 bonds (or products) totaling 175.717 billion yuan; of these, 149 bonds totaling 91.859 billion yuan were traditional bonds, and 69 asset securitization products totaling 83.858 billion yuan.

For low-carbon transition bonds, 32 securities firms underwrote 38 bonds with a total of 21.027 billion yuan.

For Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds, 83 firms underwrote 998 bonds, totaling 1,021.935 billion yuan.

For rural revitalization bonds (or asset securitization products), 54 firms underwrote or managed 112 bonds (or products), totaling 66.36 billion yuan; including 95 bonds worth 52.486 billion yuan and 17 asset securitization products worth 13.874 billion yuan.

For Belt and Road bonds, 28 firms underwrote 23 bonds, totaling 22.21 billion yuan.

For support bonds for small and micro enterprises, 47 firms underwrote 67 bonds, totaling 27.732 billion yuan.

For private enterprise bonds (or asset securitization products), 61 firms underwrote or managed 535 bonds (or products), totaling 573.082 billion yuan; including 221 bonds worth 296.989 billion yuan and 314 asset securitization products worth 276.093 billion yuan.

In the local government bond market, 72 securities firms participated, with a total winning bid amount of 454.378 billion yuan across 35 regions.

It is also noted that similar bond issuances occur in the interbank bond market, but these are not included in this statistical report by the China Securities Association.

CITIC Securities Ranks First

According to Securities Firms China, regarding Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds, compared to the same period in 2024, 2025 saw not only an increase in scale, surpassing 1 trillion yuan, but also a significant rise in the number of underwriting firms.

In 2024, 60 securities firms served as lead underwriters for Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds, underwriting 539 bonds totaling 613.686 billion yuan. In 2025, the number of firms involved increased to 83, a rise of 23 firms; the underwriting amount reached 1,021.935 billion yuan, a 66.52% increase year-on-year.

Specifically, in terms of the number of underwriters, the top five firms in 2025 were CITIC Securities (116.74), CITIC Construction Investment (103.15), Guotai Haitong (88.19), Huatai United Securities (61.76), and China International Capital Corporation (55.18). Their rankings compared to 2024 remained largely stable.

In terms of underwriting amounts, the top five firms were CITIC Securities (190.472 billion yuan), CITIC Construction Investment (159.89 billion yuan), Guotai Haitong (116.617 billion yuan), China International Capital Corporation (70.049 billion yuan), and Huatai United Securities (64.118 billion yuan). Their rankings did not change from 2024.

Industry sources indicate that a key reason for the rapid growth in Sci-Tech Innovation Bond underwriting in 2025 is the policy changes surrounding these bonds. On May 7, 2025, the People’s Bank of China and the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the “Announcement on Supporting the Issuance of Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds” (PBOC and CSRC Announcement [2025] No. 8). The new regulations establish a dedicated evaluation system and market-making mechanism for Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds, organize market makers to provide specialized quotes, and create a linkage between underwriting and market-making activities. The weight of Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds in underwriting and market-making evaluations has been increased.

The pilot for Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds began as early as 2021. During the initial development phase, regulators included Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds within the framework of innovation and entrepreneurship bonds, encouraging high-quality enterprises to issue bonds for Sci-Tech purposes. In May 2022, Sci-Tech Innovation Bills and corporate bonds for technological innovation officially launched. On December 27, 2024, the market for Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds was further enhanced by adjusting issuer qualification standards and broadening the scope of eligible issuers, including those involved in Sci-Tech investment and incubation.

From 2021 to 2023, the issuance scale of Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds was 32.445 billion yuan, 108.11 billion yuan, and 362.22 billion yuan respectively, showing rapid growth.

Recently, the Shanghai Stock Exchange announced that under the guidance of the CSRC, it has accelerated reforms to better serve the core functions of the capital market, focusing on channeling resources into the new productive forces, including strengthening the financing function of Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds. By the end of 2025, the SSE had issued approximately 1.76 trillion yuan in Sci-Tech Innovation Bonds, serving over 500 industrial enterprises; the first batch of Sci-Tech Convertible Bonds and Sci-Tech Bond ETFs have been successfully issued and listed.

Layout: Liu Junyu

Proofreading: Liao Shengchao