(Yicai Global) March 29 -- China's largest underwriter Citic Securities increased its net profit by 55 percent year-on-year last year due to its smart investments and expanding client base.

Net profit reached CNY23.1 billion (USD3.6 billion) in 2021, the Beijing-based financial institution said in its earnings report yesterday. Revenue surged 41 percent to CNY76.5 billion.

The brokerage's rate of return on equity reached 12.07 percent, up from 8.43 percent logged a year earlier.

Citic made wise bets last year. Revenue from the company's securities investments soared by 37 percent to CNY18.4 billion, surpassing that of its brokerage business. The new No. 1 income source had the highest gross profit margin, reaching 58.58 percent, up from the earlier 20.03 percent.

The second-largest earner was the firm's asset management business which made CNY13.5 billion in revenue, up 41 percent from 2020.

Citic's client base grew to 12 million and their assets were increasing too. The value of clients’ assets under the custody of Citic Securities totaled CNY11 trillion (USD1.73 trillion) as of Dec. 31, 2021, rising by 29 percent.

An increasing number of clients were wealthy. The number of customers with more than CNY6 million (USD942,034) in assets reached 35,000 last year, increasing by 29 percent from a year earlier. Their assets tallied CNY1.5 trillion (USD235.5 billion) in total, a 19 percent uptick. The figure of those whose assets exceeded CNY2 million climbed by a fifth to 158,000. Their total assets reached CNY1.8 trillion, up by 20 percent.

Citic was China's most popular underwriter last year as its market share reached almost 18.3 percent. Securities underwriting resulted in about CNY7.8 billion in revenue last year, up 19 percent from a year earlier. Citic was the lead underwriter of 194 initial public offerings worth CNY331.9 billion (USD52.1 billion) in total, rising by almost 6 percent.

Citic's stock price [SHA: 600030] closed 1 percent down at CNY20.25 (USD3.20).

Editors: Xu Wei, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi