Recently, Guotai Junan and Haitong Securities announced that starting from November 11th, the standard for customer Renminbi margin interest rates will be adjusted to 0.1%. This year, the margin interest rates for securities firm customers have undergone several reductions. From March to August, many securities firms successively adjusted the margin interest rate standards, all stating that the decision was made in response to adjustments in the demand interest rates by major domestic commercial banks.

Customer margin is the idle funds that investors deposit in the accounts of securities companies. Securities firms settle with investors at the demand interest rate, while banks settle interest with securities firms at the interbank deposit rate, creating a spread that is an important part of the securities firms' interest income.

The main reason for securities firms to reduce the margin interest rate is to keep pace with the recent adjustments in demand deposit interest rates by commercial banks. On October 18th, major commercial banks once again reduced the Renminbi deposit interest rates. Several banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, and the Bank of Communications, announced a reduction in the Renminbi deposit挂牌 interest rates. Among them, the demand deposit interest rate was reduced by 5 basis points, from 0.15% to 0.1%, and the fixed deposit interest rates for three months, six months, one year, two years, three years, and five years were all reduced by 25 basis points.

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"The spread income from customer margin is one of the important sources of interest income for securities firms. The reduction in demand deposit interest rates by banks means a narrowing spread and a decrease in interest income. Following the banks in reducing the demand deposit interest rate for margin accounts can ensure the stability of spread income," said Tian Lihui, Dean of the Institute of Financial Development at Nankai University.

Looking at the entire industry, margin is equivalent to a huge deposit, and the reduction in the demand deposit interest rate by banks has a clear impact on industry income. According to data from the China Securities Association, as of June 30th of this year, the customer transaction settlement fund balance (including credit transaction funds) of 147 securities companies was 1.83 trillion yuan. Since the end of September, the A-share market has been active, and in October alone, the number of new individual investor accounts reached 6.8397 million, and the margin scale is bound to grow further. With the continuous reduction in demand deposit interest rates by commercial banks, the spread continues to narrow, and the reduction in this part of the income for the securities industry will be more intuitive, which may lead to more securities firms following suit in reducing interest rates.

Investment banking professionals say that as competition in the securities industry intensifies and traditional business growth is sluggish, the importance of margin spread income is becoming more and more prominent. Top securities firms have a large scale of customer margin, and even a small adjustment in the spread can bring considerable income to the securities firms. Bank interest rate cuts will inevitably affect this income, and following the bank's interest rate cuts can stabilize the income of securities firms and further control the cost of funds.

What is the impact on individual investors? Relevant personnel believe that the impact on most small investors is small. Generally, investors do not deposit funds in stock accounts to earn interest income but to wait for opportunities to trade, and the amount of funds deposited for a long time will not be too much. Taking 100,000 yuan as an example, the annual interest rate is reduced from 0.2% to 0.15%, and the annual interest income is reduced from 200 yuan to 150 yuan, with a relatively limited impact.

However, for investors with large amounts of funds, even a small reduction in interest rates can have a significant impact on interest income, thereby dragging down overall investment returns. These investors can optimize asset allocation according to the situation, flexibly manage positions, and avoid a large amount of funds remaining in low-yield products.

As market interest rates continue to decline, customer margin interest rates continue to fall, and the room for securities firms to reduce interest rates is becoming increasingly narrow. How to retain customers while striving for more profit space has become a challenge for securities firms in the future. Dong Dengxin, director of the Financial Securities Research Institute at Wuhan University of Science and Technology, believes that securities firms need to enhance their professional capabilities, optimize service quality, continuously innovate, and provide more attractive financial products, such as issuing income certificates and asset management plans, to stabilize and attract more customer funds, achieving a win-win situation.