How to become stock broker in China

Becoming a stock broker in China starts with defining the job. In everyday English, “stock broker” can mean a salesperson, investment adviser, trader, account representative, or owner of a brokerage firm. Mainland Chinese regulation separates these roles. Each activity has its own employment, competency, registration, and business-licensing rules.

Most individuals enter the industry by joining a securities company that has approval to conduct securities brokerage. The company checks the candidate’s education and background, arranges any required professional testing, provides compliance training, and records or registers the person through the applicable industry system. Passing a test alone does not permit someone to open an office, accept client orders, or provide securities advice independently.

There is also a narrower legal meaning attached to the Chinese term zhengquan jingjiren, usually translated as “securities broker.” It can refer to a natural person appointed by a securities company to solicit clients and provide approved customer services on the company’s behalf. Such a person acts within an authorised scope and cannot treat the appointment as a private brokerage licence. This distinction matters because many English-language explanations use “broker” as a catch-all term.

How securities brokerage is regulated in mainland China

The China Securities Regulatory Commission, or CSRC, serves as the main national regulator for the securities sector. It supervises securities companies, public offerings, listed-company conduct, exchanges, investment funds, market activity, and investor protection. Other government bodies may become involved in company registration, taxation, employment, data protection, foreign investment, and anti-money-laundering matters.

The Securities Association of China, commonly called the SAC, is the securities industry’s self-regulatory organisation. It publishes professional standards, manages practitioner-related records and competency testing arrangements, and issues disciplinary decisions within its authority. An applicant should consult current SAC notices because test names, eligibility rules, registration procedures, and study syllabuses have changed over the years.

China has three main mainland stock exchanges:

• The Shanghai Stock Exchange, which includes the Main Board and the STAR Market.

• The Shenzhen Stock Exchange, which includes the Main Board and ChiNext.

• The Beijing Stock Exchange, which primarily serves innovative small and medium-sized companies that meet its admission rules.

The China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation performs central securities registration, custody, and clearing functions for much of the exchange-traded market. Securities companies connect clients to this market infrastructure, carry out account procedures, transmit orders, provide reports, and apply controls required by law and exchange rules.

A broker does not personally hold an exchange membership or send retail orders to an exchange under a private licence. Client transactions pass through the authorised securities company and its approved systems. The company remains responsible for order handling, account controls, client records, suitability procedures, cybersecurity, and supervision of staff and appointed representatives.

Choose the right stock broker career route

The normal route depends on the work a candidate wants to perform. Someone interested in retail client service follows a different path from a research analyst or investment banker. Job titles can also vary between firms, so candidates should read the stated duties rather than rely on the title printed in a recruitment advertisement.

Career route	Typical work	Common entry requirements
Retail brokerage employee	Account support, client communication, product explanations, trading-platform assistance, and approved sales activity	Degree preferred by many firms, professional competency assessment, background checks, and internal training
Appointed securities broker	Client solicitation and approved services performed as an agent of one securities company	Appointment by an authorised company, required competency status, registration or recording, and conduct supervision
Investment adviser	Recommendations based on client needs, financial position, experience, and risk profile	Relevant assessment, industry experience where required, practitioner status, and firm authorisation
Securities analyst	Company, sector, economic, valuation, and market research	Strong financial knowledge, relevant assessment, research controls, and employer approval
Investment banking professional	Listings, share offerings, refinancing, bond issues, due diligence, and sponsor-related work	Relevant education, testing, transaction knowledge, and supervised experience
Brokerage company founder or investor	Ownership and operation of a licensed securities institution	Regulatory approval, qualifying shareholders, capital, governance, technology, staff, and risk controls

A candidate who wants regular employment will usually apply to an existing securities company. This is the most direct route because the firm already holds the institutional permissions and has systems for practitioner management. It can place the employee into a role that matches the person’s competence, experience, and recorded professional status.

The appointed securities broker route requires extra care. An appointed broker may work under an agency arrangement rather than a standard employment contract. The exact legal and commercial relationship should be explained in writing. Compensation may depend partly on client development, but the broker still has to follow the company’s conduct, advertising, confidentiality, and reporting rules.

Starting a securities company is a corporate project, not a shortcut for an individual salesperson. It involves regulatory review of the owners, capital sources, directors, senior managers, operating model, controls, and financial condition. Applicants should not confuse registering an ordinary consulting company with receiving approval to conduct securities brokerage.

Education and personal eligibility

Chinese law and industry rules set baseline conduct and competence expectations, while securities companies set hiring standards for each post. Many mainstream firms prefer applicants with a bachelor’s degree. Research, investment banking, quantitative trading, legal, and senior compliance posts may favour postgraduate study or professional experience.

Useful university subjects include finance, economics, accounting, law, statistics, mathematics, information technology, and business administration. A finance degree is not compulsory for every brokerage post. A law graduate may fit a compliance team, while a computer science graduate may work in trading technology or operational risk. Retail brokerage teams often recruit from a wider range of academic backgrounds if the candidate can learn the products and rules.

A candidate should be able to read financial statements and explain ordinary investment concepts without hiding behind jargon. Expected knowledge may include share ownership, bonds, funds, dividends, rights issues, valuation ratios, market orders, price orders, settlement, volatility, and leverage. Client-facing staff also need clear spoken and written Mandarin for account documentation, risk warnings, internal systems, and customer conversations.

Integrity checks form part of regulated recruitment. A firm may review criminal history, regulatory sanctions, market bans, prior disciplinary action, employment records, and the authenticity of academic documents. False information on an application can end the hiring process and may create later registration problems.

Debt or poor personal finances do not automatically disqualify every applicant. However, dishonesty, misuse of funds, fraud, illegal fundraising, insider dealing, market manipulation, or serious breaches of financial regulation are far more serious. Senior management and control-function posts receive closer fitness and propriety review than ordinary support jobs.

Skills that employers tend to value

Retail brokerage still involves sales, but firms cannot treat sales performance as the only measure of competence. A reliable candidate must know where promotion ends and regulated advice begins. The employee should be able to explain fees, trading restrictions, product risks, and account procedures without making promises about returns.

Numeracy matters, though most client-service posts do not require advanced mathematics. Candidates should calculate percentage gains and losses, understand transaction costs, compare valuation measures, and explain how borrowed money changes investment risk. Spreadsheet ability and familiarity with financial databases are useful in research, institutional sales, and wealth-management posts.

Judgment is harder to test on paper. Brokers regularly face requests that sound harmless but are not. A client may ask an employee to place an order without proper authentication, send money to a personal account, backdate a document, or guarantee that a falling share will recover. The correct answer is usually less exciting than the client wants, but regulated finance has never rewarded improvisation for very long.

Professional competency tests and practitioner records

Older articles often refer to a single “securities practitioner qualification examination.” That wording can mislead applicants because the Chinese testing system has been revised. Current arrangements distinguish between general industry competency assessments, assessments for professional activities, and tests associated with senior management or other regulated responsibilities.

General assessment material commonly covers financial-market knowledge and securities laws and regulations. Professional assessments may relate to investment advisory work, securities research, sponsor representation, or other functions. Candidates should check the latest SAC examination announcement before paying a training provider or buying textbooks.

The following points help explain how testing fits into the employment process:

• A passing result shows that the candidate met the assessment standard at the time of the test.

• It does not create a personal right to conduct brokerage business outside an authorised firm.

• The employing institution must assess whether the person is suitable for the proposed duties.

• The firm completes the applicable practitioner recording, registration, or reporting procedure.

• Some professional posts require experience as well as a test result.

• Internal approval may be narrower than the person’s examination history.

Testing rules may set eligibility conditions related to age, education, civil capacity, employment status, or industry sponsorship. Public test sessions and industry-only sessions may have different registration conditions. An applicant should read the notice for the relevant sitting rather than assume that every assessment is open to the general public.

Preparation should centre on the official syllabus. Securities law questions often test conduct boundaries, disclosure rules, prohibited trading behaviour, client protection, and the responsibilities of financial institutions. Market questions may cover equity and debt products, funds, derivatives, issuance, exchange trading, settlement, and risk.

Commercial courses can help candidates organise study, but no training provider can grant permission to practise. Applicants should be wary of advertisements promising a guaranteed licence, an automatic job, or authority to manage client money after a short course. The employer and regulatory framework determine what the person may do.

What happens after a candidate passes

A successful candidate normally applies for a post or continues through an employer’s recruitment process. The securities company verifies the result, checks personal records, reviews the proposed duties, and arranges induction. It then submits the required practitioner details through the relevant industry channel.

The employee may have to complete continuing professional education and periodic internal training. Firms often require annual instruction on anti-money laundering, market conduct, data security, suitability, conflicts, complaint handling, and new products. Failure to complete mandatory training can affect the duties assigned to the employee.

Changing employers also requires orderly departure and onboarding procedures. The former firm may need to update the individual’s status before the new firm records the person. Client data, research files, internal documents, and confidential records belong within the former employer’s controlled systems; they should not leave with the employee.

Applying to a licensed Chinese securities company

Large securities companies run graduate recruitment programmes, internships, experienced-hire campaigns, and branch-level recruitment. Vacancies appear on company recruitment pages, university portals, mainstream employment platforms, and industry networks. Branch offices may recruit client-service staff locally, while research and investment banking teams often recruit through head-office programmes.

Before applying, candidates should prepare a Chinese-language résumé suited to the post. It should state education, internships, financial coursework, language ability, technology skills, assessment results, and any regulated employment history. Claims about managing portfolios or giving investment advice should be accurate. Informal trading for friends is not professional asset-management experience and may raise awkward compliance questions.

A standard recruitment process may include résumé screening, aptitude tests, financial knowledge questions, interviews, background verification, a medical examination, and an employment offer. Sales posts may include a discussion of client development, but candidates should ask how leads are obtained and which communication methods the firm permits.

Questions worth raising during an interview include:

• Is the post an employee position or an appointed broker arrangement?

• Which legal entity will sign the contract?

• Which activities will the person be authorised to perform?

• Will the company arrange practitioner recording or registration?

• Does the role permit investment recommendations, or only general product explanations?

• How are salary, commission, expenses, and client ownership handled?

• Which office, branch, or business department supervises the post?

Candidates should verify that the employer is a genuine securities company or an authorised part of one. A legitimate firm should clearly identify its registered company name, branch, business permissions, contract terms, and compliance contact. It should never instruct a new recruit to collect client money in a personal bank account.

Warning signs in brokerage recruitment

Some businesses use financial job titles without holding securities permissions. A vacancy described as “stock broker,” “trader,” or “wealth adviser” may actually involve selling software, promoting unlicensed offshore platforms, or recruiting investors into private arrangements.

Particular care is warranted if the company asks an applicant to pay a large joining fee, deposit personal trading capital, use private messaging accounts for all client contact, or promise guaranteed returns. The same applies if the recruiter refuses to name the licensed entity behind the operation.

A proper employer has compliance procedures that may feel slow from a salesperson’s point of view. Marketing materials need approval, client communications may be retained, and account actions require verification. Those controls are normal. A business that claims regulation does not apply because it operates through an app deserves closer examination.

Work performed by an entry-level broker

An entry-level retail brokerage employee may assist with account opening, identity checks, account maintenance, trading-platform questions, transaction reports, and general explanations of securities products. Much of the job is procedural. Clients often need help with passwords, bank-account links, trading permissions, risk assessments, or corporate-action notices rather than stock ideas.

Account opening requires accurate identification and documentation. Firms must know who the client is, assess money-laundering risk, screen relevant records, and monitor account activity. Employees cannot skip checks because the customer was referred by a colleague or appears financially well established.

Client communication must remain within the employee’s approved scope. Explaining how a fund operates is not always the same as recommending that fund to a named client. A personalised recommendation can trigger investment-advisory and suitability duties. New employees should ask their supervisor where the firm draws that line.

Retail staff may also introduce margin financing, securities lending, funds, bonds, exchange products, or wealth-management products. Each product has admission criteria and risk disclosures. Higher-risk services often require added client assessments, signed agreements, or evidence of trading experience and financial capacity.

The narrower role of an appointed securities broker

An appointed securities broker acts on behalf of the appointing company and within the written authority granted by that company. The broker may solicit customers and provide approved client services. The broker should identify the appointing company and must not present the relationship as an independent financial business.

Restrictions commonly prevent such brokers from accepting client funds or securities, handling account credentials, placing orders without proper client action, promising returns, or conducting business for another securities company at the same time. The exact boundaries come from current regulation, the agency agreement, and the company’s internal rules.

The appointing company must supervise broker conduct. It may issue identification, approve marketing content, retain records, review communications, and investigate complaints. A broker who works away from a branch office is not outside company oversight. Remote work does not produce remote regulation, sadly for anyone hoping otherwise.

Knowledge needed for Chinese stock brokerage

A competent broker needs more than a general familiarity with share prices. Mainland markets have trading rules, investor eligibility standards, board structures, and product categories that differ from those in Hong Kong, the United States, or Europe.

Mainland share classes and market boards

A-shares are shares of mainland-incorporated companies traded mainly in renminbi on mainland exchanges. Other share categories, cross-border trading channels, depositary arrangements, and offshore listings may also arise in client conversations. Brokers should explain the trading venue and legal character of the security rather than group every Chinese company share into one category.

The Shanghai Main Board, Shenzhen Main Board, STAR Market, ChiNext, and Beijing Stock Exchange serve different issuer groups and apply their own listing and trading arrangements. Investor access rules may vary. Some boards or products require clients to meet asset, experience, or risk-assessment conditions before trading.

Daily price movement controls apply to many mainland shares, though the applicable percentages and exemptions depend on the board, security status, and stage of listing. Trading suspensions, risk-warning designations, delisting procedures, and abnormal-trading controls also affect order execution.

Trading, clearing, and account rules

Brokers should know the order types accepted by the relevant venue, trading hours, auction periods, settlement arrangements, transaction fees, and restrictions on same-day resale. Mainland cash-equity trading often follows rules that differ from markets where retail investors routinely buy and sell the same share during one session.

Clients may access eligible securities through Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect or Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect. These programmes have their own eligible-security lists, quotas or operational arrangements, currency processes, holiday calendars, investor protections, and settlement considerations. A mainland brokerage registration does not automatically authorise work in Hong Kong.

Margin financing and securities lending add credit risk, collateral requirements, maintenance ratios, and forced-liquidation provisions. Employees who introduce these services must explain that borrowed trading magnifies losses as well as gains. They must also follow the firm’s client-admission and contract procedures.

Financial analysis

A retail broker does not need to produce institutional research unless the post requires it, but financial literacy remains necessary. Candidates should be able to interpret revenue, operating profit, net income, cash flow, debt, equity, and related-party transactions. They should also know why accounting profit and operating cash generation can tell different stories.

Common valuation measures include price-to-earnings, price-to-book, dividend yield, enterprise value, and cash-flow ratios. No ratio settles an investment decision on its own. Sector conditions, accounting policies, capital structure, corporate governance, and the investor’s time horizon all matter.

Company announcements are primary sources for listed-company events. Brokers and analysts should distinguish formal disclosures from rumours posted on social media. Passing an unverified rumour to clients can create conduct problems even if the employee adds a casual disclaimer.

Compliance duties after appointment

Qualification marks the start of regulated responsibility, not the end of it. A practitioner must follow securities law, CSRC rules, exchange requirements, SAC standards, and the employer’s internal policies. Internal rules may be stricter than the legal minimum.

Client suitability

Securities firms gather information about a client’s financial position, investment goals, market knowledge, experience, age, risk tolerance, and expected holding period. They classify products and services by risk. The firm then applies matching and warning procedures before granting access or making recommendations.

Suitability does not mean that an investment will make money. It means the firm followed the required process and assessed whether the product or service matched the client profile. A client can still lose money on a properly sold investment. Liability becomes more likely where a firm skipped assessment, hid material risks, falsified records, or sold outside the approved scope.

Market conduct and confidential information

Practitioners must not trade on inside information, manipulate prices, create false transaction activity, spread misleading statements, or misuse client orders. Information obtained through corporate finance, research, institutional sales, or client relationships may be confidential even if it does not meet the legal definition of inside information.

Firms often monitor employee securities accounts and require pre-approval or reporting for personal transactions. Restricted lists, watch lists, holding periods, and blackout periods may apply. Employees should disclose accounts as required, including accounts over which they exercise control.

Client money, instructions, and records

A broker should never route client money through a personal account. Client deposits, securities, orders, and withdrawals must pass through approved institutional channels. Login credentials, verification codes, seals, and identity documents also require careful handling.

Firms retain account records, call recordings, electronic messages, risk disclosures, order logs, and complaint files according to legal and internal retention periods. Staff should use approved communication systems. Moving client conversations to a private chat account can breach company policy and leave the employee without a reliable record if a dispute develops.

Advertising and social media

Public posts about securities can count as business communication. Employees should not publish recommendations, performance claims, research extracts, or client examples without approval. Statements such as “guaranteed,” “risk free,” or “sure to rise” are plainly inappropriate for market investments.

Livestreams and short-form video create the same regulatory concerns as printed advertising, only faster. A disclaimer in small text does not correct a misleading presentation. The company’s approval and record-retention process should cover the communication channel being used.

Requirements for foreign nationals

Foreign nationals can work in mainland China’s securities sector where immigration, employment, professional, and employer requirements are met. There is no blanket rule that every foreign applicant can enter retail brokerage after passing an assessment. Eligibility depends on the post and the institution.

A foreign employee normally needs a valid work permit and residence permit for work. The sponsoring employer must support the application and show that the appointment complies with labour and immigration rules. Working on a tourist, business, or student status without proper work authorisation can create penalties for both parties.

Employers may request authenticated or verified academic records, proof of overseas employment, criminal-record documents, translations, and evidence of professional qualifications. The exact document process depends on nationality, location, and current administrative practice.

An overseas securities licence does not automatically transfer to mainland China. A qualification from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, or another market may strengthen an application, but the employer must still check Chinese professional rules for the proposed activity.

Mandarin ability is especially relevant in domestic retail brokerage. Client agreements, risk disclosures, regulatory notices, exchange announcements, and internal systems are generally in Chinese. International firms may hire English-speaking staff for cross-border investment banking, institutional business, technology, research, or compliance, though many of those posts still require professional Chinese.

Mainland China and Hong Kong are separate jurisdictions

Hong Kong securities activity falls under its own legal and licensing system, supervised by the Securities and Futures Commission. A Hong Kong licence does not permit a person to conduct mainland brokerage without the required mainland status and institutional authority. The reverse also applies.

Stock Connect links the markets operationally but does not merge their professional licensing systems. Firms involved in cross-border business assign staff according to the permissions held by each legal entity. Foreign applicants should ask which entity employs them, where clients are located, and which regulator covers the activity.

Starting or acquiring a securities brokerage company

Establishing a securities company is far more demanding than qualifying for an individual post. The applicant must obtain regulatory approval for the company and the proposed business scope before offering brokerage services to the public.

Regulators review the shareholder structure, beneficial ownership, source of funds, financial strength, governance, senior management, compliance programme, risk-management system, technology, staffing, and operating plan. Shareholders may need to meet standards related to business history, financial condition, integrity, and control of financial institutions.

Capital thresholds depend on the permitted business scope and current securities-company rules. Brokerage, investment advisory, proprietary trading, underwriting, sponsorship, asset management, and other activities may produce different capital and net-capital obligations. Meeting a nominal registered-capital figure does not by itself secure approval.

The proposed firm needs systems for client identification, order processing, asset segregation, clearing, cyber protection, access control, data storage, transaction monitoring, complaints, disaster recovery, and regulatory reporting. Regulators may review whether systems remain stable during high-volume trading and whether critical operations can continue after an outage.

Qualified directors, senior managers, compliance officers, risk staff, technology personnel, finance staff, and business heads must be appointed. Reporting lines should prevent revenue teams from overriding compliance or risk decisions. Related-party transactions and conflicts between brokerage, research, underwriting, and proprietary activity also need formal controls.

Foreign ownership and market access

Foreign financial groups may apply to invest in or establish securities companies subject to China’s market-access, corporate, regulatory, and ownership rules. The process depends on the proposed shareholding, business scope, investor status, and current policy.

A foreign group should obtain Chinese legal, tax, employment, cybersecurity, and regulatory advice before committing capital. An ownership arrangement that appears acceptable under ordinary company law may still fail financial-sector review. Beneficial ownership and funding sources must be transparent.

Online platforms are not an exemption

Operating through a website or mobile application does not remove brokerage activity from regulation. Accepting securities orders, arranging transactions, handling client assets, or giving personalised recommendations may require financial permissions even if the company describes itself as a technology or education provider.

Software vendors can provide tools to licensed firms, but the contract and operating model must separate technology support from regulated brokerage. If the technology company controls customer relationships, order flow, advice, or money, regulators may examine the substance of the activity rather than its marketing label.

A practical route from student to securities professional

A student can begin by studying accounting, financial markets, securities law, and data analysis. Reading listed-company reports and exchange announcements helps connect academic material to real business events. Internships with securities companies, banks, fund managers, accounting firms, or law firms can also provide relevant experience.

The next step is to identify a job category and review current SAC assessment notices. Study should follow the current syllabus and legal materials. Candidates should keep copies of test records, education documents, internship certificates, and identity documents because employers may request them during verification.

Applications should target authorised securities companies and clearly defined posts. During interviews, candidates should confirm whether the role involves employment or agency appointment, which practitioner process applies, and whether the role includes investment advice. Written terms should match the recruiter’s verbal description.

After hiring, the candidate completes background checks, internal instruction, product training, and practitioner procedures. New staff should perform only approved duties and refer uncertain requests to a supervisor or compliance officer. Asking before acting is usually cheaper than explaining afterwards.

Career progression may lead from branch client service to wealth management, institutional sales, investment advice, research, operations, compliance, or management. Each move can require added study, experience, testing, and internal approval. A clean conduct record carries considerable weight because regulated employers routinely review prior disciplinary history.

How long the process may take

The timeframe depends on education, assessment schedules, recruitment cycles, and the chosen role. A university graduate who has prepared for the relevant assessment may enter a junior brokerage post within a normal graduate recruitment cycle. Employer screening and practitioner procedures add time after an offer is accepted.

Investment advisory, securities analysis, and investment banking posts may take longer because employers often require stronger academic records, transaction experience, or professional assessments. Senior management positions require a much longer record of regulated work and management competence.

Creating a securities company takes far longer than joining one. Preparation alone can involve corporate structuring, capital planning, system development, senior hiring, policy drafting, and regulatory discussions. The application period depends on the proposal and regulator review; there is no sensible promise of a quick licence.

Costs to consider

For an individual, direct costs may include assessment fees, study materials, training, document verification, travel, and relocation. Foreign applicants may also incur translation, authentication, immigration, and medical-examination costs. Employers sometimes reimburse part of these expenses, but candidates should confirm the policy in writing.

Commercial test courses vary greatly in price and quality. An expensive course is not always better than disciplined study based on the official syllabus. Candidates should verify what is included, whether materials reflect current rules, and whether refund promises have realistic conditions.

The cost of establishing a securities company is on another scale. Capital is only one category. Technology, premises, legal advice, regulatory staff, insurance, cybersecurity, clearing arrangements, audit, and continuing compliance create substantial operating expenses before the firm earns brokerage revenue.

Common mistakes made by applicants

One common mistake is treating a passed assessment as a personal brokerage licence. Authority comes from the person’s role within an authorised institution, together with the applicable practitioner status and internal approval.

Another mistake is applying to any company that uses a financial title. Securities brokerage, investment consulting, private fund management, financial media, and software services are not interchangeable. Candidates should identify the legal entity and its approved business scope.

Applicants also underestimate the difference between sales and advice. Repeating approved product facts may be allowed in a service role, while recommending a trade based on an individual client’s finances may require a different professional status. The line can depend on context, so staff should follow the firm’s written guidance.

Foreign professionals sometimes assume an overseas licence carries automatic recognition. It may help demonstrate competence, but mainland rules still apply. Hong Kong experience is valuable, though it does not erase the jurisdictional boundary.

A final recurring mistake is relying on old examination blogs. China’s practitioner assessment and management arrangements have changed, and older names remain common online. The current SAC notice, the employer’s compliance department, and applicable CSRC rules should take priority over study forums.

What becoming a stock broker in China actually requires

For most candidates, the route is straightforward in concept: choose a brokerage-related role, build the required financial and legal knowledge, complete the applicable competency assessment, join an authorised securities company, and finish the employer-led practitioner process. The person then works within the duties approved by that company.

Retail brokerage, appointed broker work, investment advice, securities research, and investment banking are separate professional paths. Passing one assessment or holding one job does not grant authority across all of them. Candidates should match their education and testing to the activity they plan to perform.

Anyone planning to own a brokerage faces a separate institutional approval process involving capital, qualifying owners, governance, staff, technology, and regulatory review. Registering an ordinary company or launching an app cannot replace securities authorisation.

Rules and assessment arrangements can change, so applicants should verify current requirements with the CSRC, the SAC, and the prospective employer before acting. The safest test is simple: identify the regulated activity, identify the institution authorised to conduct it, and confirm in writing what the individual is permitted to do.