Layoffs hit securities firms

Several leading Chinese securities firms are undergoing a massive wave of layoffs in a bid to survive the bleak stock market by reducing management expenses, insiders told the Global Times Tuesday.

"The situation is not surprising, considering the sluggish stock market this year," a securities industry insider told the Global Times Tuesday on condition of anonymity, noting that surviving the current market has become the top priority for securities companies.

Since the beginning of this year, stock markets in the Chinese mainland have performed much worse than most other markets in the world.

The Shenzhen Component Index declined by 2.69 percent, and the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell by more than 5 percent during the first three quarters this year, compared with gains in markets in the US, Germany and South Korea.

According to statistics from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, about 53 percent of retail investors in China had suffered losses in the first nine months this year.

And the Shanghai Securities News reported Tuesday that 1.26 million A-share accounts had shut down between January and November.

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