HONG KONG -- Two of China's top state-backed brokerages, Guotai Junan Securities and Haitong Securities, have announced a plan to merge into what would become the country's largest player, while industry experts anticipate more consolidation.
The duo announced the merger late Thursday night in filings to the Hong Kong Exchange. The union, if it goes ahead, will create an institution with total assets of more than 1.620 trillion yuan ($230 billion), overtaking China's current No. 1 brokerage, CITIC Securities, which had 1.495 trillion yuan in assets as of the end of June.
