Securities companies are also called brokers in China, and generally set up a department called research institute.

The orientation of the early brokerage research institute was to provide research services for the internal investment departments of brokers, including the self-operated departments that supported securities investment with brokers' own funds and the asset management departments that invested securities with external clients' funds. This is a backstage department. With the passage of time, in order to make the institute more market-oriented and earn income, the service field of brokerage research institute began to expand, providing research and analysis services to external investment institutions such as Public Offering of Fund, private equity funds and insurance.