Financial News Agency, April 12 (Reporter Lin Jian) ​​Founder Securities Research Institute may welcome a new director. The one with a higher voice is Liu Zhangming, deputy director of Tianfeng Securities Research Institute and chief analyst of the trading company; the other is Zheng Zhenxiang, deputy director of Guosheng Securities Research Institute and chief electronics analyst. The answer to who is the most competent remains to be revealed.

It is not difficult to find that the research strength of Founder Securities was once weakened, and the change of the director of the research institute is one of the manifestations. In 2016, Founder Securities initiated a joint director system in the research institute. Han Zhenguo and Ren Zeping took over as co-directors of the research institute. The former is responsible for administrative management and the latter is responsible for research. In 2017, Ren Zeping resigned. Starting from March 2019, Han Zhenguo was transferred internally to other positions at Founder Securities, and Yang Renwen took over as the director of the research institute, but the latter also resigned in 2021. In 2021, Han Zhenguo will take charge of the institute again.

The reporter learned that the current administrative head of Founder Research Institute is concurrently held by the company's vice president, while Han Zhenguo serves as co-director, mainly responsible for internal services and does not lead seller research.

The picture shows the registration information of Liu Zhangming with the Securities Association of China

The picture shows the registration information of Zheng Zhenxiang with the Securities Association of China

All are strong sell-side research experts with deputy director management experience.

It is generally believed in the industry that Liu Zhangming, deputy director of Tianfeng Securities Research Institute and chief analyst of the trading company, has a higher probability of assuming the new directorship of Founder Securities Research Institute.

According to the data, Liu Zhangming has a master's degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He entered the research industry in 2011 and has more than 10 years of research experience. He has worked as an analyst at securities firms such as Shenwan Hongyuan and Essence Securities. In 2016, he officially joined Tianfeng Securities as an analyst. Deputy director of the research institute and chief analyst of the trading company industry, has been there for nearly 7 years.

From the perspective of growth rate, Liu Zhangming's recognition has soared significantly in the past ten years. He was ranked third in New Fortune Wholesale and Retail in 2015, second in New Fortune's Best Analyst in 2016, and second in New Fortune's Wholesale and Retail in 2017. Ranked first in the new wealth wholesale and retail and social service industries for three consecutive years in 2019, 2020 and 2021. An article on the official account of Tianfeng Securities once described Liu Zhangming as follows: “When doing things, he likes to set goals first, then break down the steps, and achieve them step by step. He is dedicated to providing differentiated research and exploring research content that is different from market expectations. "

In addition to Liu Zhangming's "9,000 yuan monthly salary" incident in his circle of friends, which has attracted widespread attention in the industry, another aspect is grassroots research. At the end of 2022, after the adjustment of epidemic prevention policies, the Tianfeng Securities Trading Company team conducted extensive grassroots research, which triggered social discussions.

In order to act quickly after this policy adjustment, Liu Zhangming also wrote in his circle of friends, "Fourteen assistants have been arranged to immediately go to Hefei, Anhui, Sanya, Haikou, Shenyang, Liaoning, Guangzhou, Guangdong, Jinan, Shandong, Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Hubei Wuhan, Taiyuan in Shanxi, Nanjing in Jiangsu, Chengdu in Chongqing, Zhengzhou in Henan, Changsha in Hunan, and Xi'an in Shaanxi will focus on investigating the public acceptance, recovery of daily service industries, response to medical resources, and school security after the implementation of the new ten measures. Practice is a test of truth. The only criterion is that instead of just thinking about it, it’s better to go to the front line, Tianfeng Trading Company is taking action!”

An article on the official account of Tianfeng Securities further summarized Liu Zhangming’s work characteristics, saying that he is hardworking and enthusiastic enough. Liu Zhangming said, "When you are young, you should be awake and work hard. Don't wait until you are young." He also believes that "analysts must find their own algorithms, and then continue to practice, precipitate, repeat, develop practice, precipitate again, repeat... We firmly believe that continuous accumulation of industry knowledge, company research, resource integration and team building will be able to harvest wonderful responses through the capital market and share the compound interest of time growth.”

He also emphasized that “a united team is very important.” It is understood that the Tianfeng Securities Trading Company team adopts a matrix management model, that is, one main analyst is paired with 2 to 3 assistant analysts. The main analyst is responsible for the roadshow report structure, Assistant analysts are responsible for arranging research activities, and each assistant analyst is usually assigned several interns to perform auxiliary work.

Why does the industry generally believe that Liu Zhangming has a greater chance of taking over? There may be two reasons. On the one hand, Liu Zhangming has been working at Tianfeng Securities for a long time. He is an analyst who "actively seeks change". In addition, he has also divided his career as an analyst. He believes that "it is important for practitioners to For analysts with more than 10 years of experience, more experience lies in the ability to integrate resources.”

Another meaning is that the equity change of Tianfeng Securities has been settled. At present, Hubei Hongtai Group, which has a Hubei state-owned assets background, has officially become the controlling shareholder of Tianfeng Securities, and the Hubei Provincial Department of Finance has become its actual controller. Tianfeng Securities has entered the era of state-owned assets. The securities industry is a talent-intensive industry, and major changes at the shareholder level of securities firms often lead to personnel turnover.

It is worth noting that Guosheng Securities, another candidate Zheng Zhenxiang, is also in a similar situation to Tianfeng Securities and has entered the era of state-owned assets. According to the approval document issued by the China Securities Regulatory Commission on December 30, 2022, Guosheng Securities ended the two-year takeover and has officially resumed daily operations. At the same time, following the shareholding reduction and transfer transactions of the original shareholders, Jiangxi State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission became the actual controller of its parent company Guosheng Financial Holdings.

Similar to Liu Zhangming, Zheng Zhenxiang also has more than 10 years of research experience, and obtained analyst qualifications almost at the same time as Liu Zhangming (2013-2014). According to the data, Zheng Zhenxiang holds a master's degree in microelectronics from Fudan University. He has worked as an analyst at Haitong Securities, Essence Securities, Huachuang Securities, and Zhongtai Securities. He joined Guosheng Securities at the end of 2018 and has been there for more than 4 years.

Zheng Zhenxiang’s recognition in the industry is also rapidly increasing. He ranked first in the New Fortune Electronics Industry from 2013 to 2016, second in the New Fortune Electronics Industry in 2019 and 2021, and third in the New Fortune Electronics Industry in 2020.

Talking about the two candidates, a researcher familiar with Founder Securities’ research told reporters that “their research capabilities are not bad.” Whether the working styles and management concepts of the two at the current research institute will be brought to Founder Securities and what impact they will have will become matters worthy of attention in the future.

How is the "recovery" of Founder Securities Research?

Although the final candidate has not yet been decided, it is inevitable that Founder Securities will “take charge” of the new director. For this long-established brokerage, research is one of the businesses that needs to be reinvented. Taking commission-based warehousing income as an example, in 2021, Founder Securities achieved commission-based warehousing income of 566 million yuan through research services, product sales and market-making transactions. In 2022, under the pressure of multiple pressures, the revenue was realized at 380 million yuan, showing a decline. , ranking 20th in the industry.

Personnel issues are the biggest constraint for Founder Securities’ research. The first is the “pain” of personnel loss. In 2020, the large-scale "exodus" of many chief analysts of Founder Securities once attracted industry attention, which resulted in many public opinion questions, including whether the company gave up the seller's market and switched to internal services, etc. However, in response to this series of issues, Founder Securities executives responded directly at the 2021 annual performance briefing held the following year, saying that Founder Securities would still move towards the goal of a large sell-side research institute and strive to become the leader. Large-scale sellers, and spread "hero posts" widely to strengthen team building.

On the one hand, the goal of striving to become a large sell-side research institute has indeed been implemented by Founder Securities. The company's 2022 annual report shows that Founder Securities continues to strengthen its research capabilities in technology, consumer, pharmaceutical and other sectors, and is committed to building a large-scale sell-side research institution for securities firms, providing research consulting services to institutional clients, publishing more than 3,000 research reports to the outside world, and holding various We have held dozens of online and offline theme exchange meetings, and provided various research services such as reports, roadshows, and training for more than 15,000 times. The reporter noticed that although the commission for sub-positioning has declined, the number of research reports released by Founder Securities and the number of research services provided in 2022 have far exceeded those in 2020, which means that Founder Securities research is in a "recovery period."

On the other hand, Founder Securities is indeed in the process of spreading "hero posts" and constantly absorbing new research forces. This is another manifestation of the "recovery period." In recent years, Founder Securities has been continuously absorbing new research capabilities. According to data from the China Securities Association, the latest number of analysts at Founder Securities is 46, an increase of more than ten from the beginning of 2022. Founder Securities stated that the company continues to introduce and train chief analysts with high growth potential, continues to strengthen in-depth research, and provides more valuable and forward-looking research services to capital market clients.

It is also worth noting that Founder Securities Research has repeatedly experienced public opinion incidents caused by improper remarks made by personnel, which has attracted much attention from the industry. How to effectively standardize employees' professional behavior and strengthen reputational risk management are also issues that need to be addressed by Founder Securities Research.

In addition, with the steady progress of the "change of ownership" process, the "integration" of Founder Securities and its future actual controller, China Ping An, will also lead to changes in its research business, which has attracted the attention of the securities analyst community, including the organizational structure , salary assessment, whether adjustments to the philosophy direction will be made and other issues. Although there are currently no intuitive results on these issues, Founder Securities executives gave similar interpretations at the 2022 annual performance meeting held this year.

Founder Securities executives said that in addition to China Ping An, the second and third largest shareholders of Founder Securities are the Social Security Fund Council and China Cinda. The three will fully empower Founder Securities in terms of technology, management, and ecology. "With the new shareholders settled, the initial results have already been shown."

According to a reporter from the Financial Associated Press, the research business has been designated as the "third driving force" of the business plan by Founder Securities. It is an innovation engine equivalent to investment banking, asset management, and public funds. It will adhere to the comprehensive upgrade of the quality and quantity of talents and continue to consolidate products. With service system, analyst management system, sales management system, etc., we are committed to becoming a large-scale sell-side research institution with industry influence, research-oriented, and both internal and external excellence.

Currently, Founder Securities’ research business development plan has three confirmed items. The first is to adhere to the market-oriented incentive mechanism and create a sustainable research operation platform to ensure stability and growth; the second is to build a digital research institute and build a digital research institute through financial services. Technology empowerment to enhance the core competitiveness of research. The third is to continue to strengthen the formation of the industrial financial service model of “investment + investment banking + research” to better serve the real economy and serve the national strategy.

This article comes from Lin Jian, a reporter from the Financial Associated Press