From expressions of gratitude to letters of confession, a chairman and a vice president have fallen in succession within a single month, casting the deepest governance shadows over a Dongguan state-owned securities firm that has endured an 11-year listing queue despite robust earnings growth.

Picture this scenario as of September 14, 2026. First, two senior executives at Dongguan Securities have turned themselves in. The Dongguan Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision reported that former vice president Gao Zemin, suspected of serious job-related violations, voluntarily surrendered and is now under investigation by the municipal supervisory commission. This follows former chairman Chen Zhaoxing's self-report on August 7, marking the second core executive to fall from grace in just over a month.

Second, the company initiated its IPO preparations back in 2015, before the registration system was even implemented, then transferred its application to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2023. To this day, not a single inquiry has been issued, yet successive leaderships have diligently paid fees to keep updating materials, with the most recent data filed as of March 2026.

Fundamentals: Three Parallel Timelines

Timeline One: Successive Executive Surrenders

Chen Zhaoxing served as chairman of Dongguan Securities from October 2017 to November 2025, a tenure of nearly eight years, before being promoted to chairman and party secretary of major shareholder Dongguan Investment Holdings Group in August 2025, and formally resigning all positions at the securities firm that November. On August 7, 2026, Chen, identified as former chairman of Dongguan Investment Holdings Group, surrendered himself amid allegations of serious disciplinary and legal violations, less than nine months after leaving the brokerage.

In a separate thread, Gao Zemin, a former vice president of Dongguan Securities, stepped in to temporarily assume the roles of chief financial officer and board secretary in March 2024 after Li Zhifang was removed from those posts. By May 17 of that year, the board voted to relieve Gao of these temporary duties, appointing Luo Yifen as the new CFO and board secretary, while Gao was said to be departing "due to work reasons" to serve as a senior advisor. On September 14, 2026, Gao, identified as former vice president, voluntarily surrendered amid suspicions of serious job-related violations.

Timeline Two: An 11-Year IPO Marathon

Dongguan Securities launched its listing process in June 2015, but faced repeated delays stemming from a bribery case involving its major shareholder's actual controller, multiple material updates, and the rollout of registration-based reforms. On March 2, 2023, after the full implementation of the registration system, the Shenzhen main board re-accepted its application, with Orient Securities as the sponsor and an estimated fundraising target of 3.09487 billion yuan. As of September 2026, the review status remains stuck at "accepted," having not yet progressed to the inquiry or listing committee stages, more than two and a half years after acceptance.

Timeline Three: Contrasting Growth Performance

Revenue climbed from 2.155 billion yuan in 2023 to 2.753 billion in 2024, 3.386 billion in 2025, and 2.089 billion in the first half of 2026, a year-on-year surge of 47.84%. Net profit followed suit, rising from 635 million in 2023 to 923 million in 2024, 1.245 billion in 2025, and 820 million in H1 2026, up 71.9%. Meanwhile, Dongguan state capital maintains absolute control, with Dongguan Investment Holdings Group holding 32.9%, Dongguan Development Holdings owning 27.1%, and Dongguan Holdings holding 15.4%, for a combined 75.4% stake.

Core Questions

Question One: Which Tenure Is Linked to Chen Zhaoxing's Case?

Chen spent over two decades at Dongguan Securities, climbing through roles such as business manager in the brokerage department, board secretary, president's assistant, general manager of the Shenzhen branch, vice president, and eventually president before assuming the chairmanship in October 2017. After his promotion to lead the major shareholder in August 2025, he resigned all roles at the securities firm three months later. The August 7 announcement identifies him as "former party secretary and chairman of Dongguan Investment Holdings Group," rather than "former chairman of Dongguan Securities," leaving unresolved whether the alleged violations occurred during his tenure at the brokerage, during his brief stint at the holding group, or across both periods, pending further disclosure by supervisory authorities.

Question Two: Is Gao Zemin's 2024 Role Shift Connected to His Investigation?

The prospectus draft reveals that on February 18, 2024, Li Zhifang was dismissed from his posts as CFO and board secretary. Around the same time, Gao stepped in to temporarily handle those responsibilities, including disclosure obligations. By May 17, 2024, the board had appointed Luo Yifen to the roles, with Gao moving to a senior advisor position. These rapid changes within roughly three months, including the unusual transition from handling core financial and disclosure duties to an advisory role, raise questions about whether they relate to the "serious job-related violations" cited two-plus years later, though no public information confirms any link.

Question Three: Is the Two-and-a-Half-Year Stalled Review Affected by Leadership Turmoil?

Since the application was "accepted" on March 2, 2023, Dongguan Securities has not advanced to the inquiry stage in over two and a half years, an unusually long wait compared with peer brokerages. With two key executives coming under investigation in recent months, and Gao having previously handled CFO, board secretary, and disclosure duties directly tied to the accuracy of IPO application materials, market observers naturally wonder whether the prolonged stagnation stems from governance-related deficiencies. No official explanation from regulators or the exchange has been offered, leaving room for further scrutiny.

Industry Perspective: Governance Challenges for Locally Controlled Brokerages

Dongguan Securities epitomizes the typical locally state-controlled brokerage, where governance hinges heavily on the local SASAC's vetting of senior appointments and the effectiveness of internal oversight. Chen's promotion from the securities firm's chairmanship to lead the major shareholder, only to be investigated within a year, suggests that internal personnel rotations within the state-owned system failed to prevent potential issues from persisting into new roles. On the other hand, the firm's fundamentals remain solid, with double-digit growth in both revenue and profit from 2023 to 2025, accelerating in the first half of 2026. This implies that the core obstacle is not operational capability but rather a crisis of trust at the governance level. For a provincial brokerage that has waited 11 years and is widely seen as "ready except for the final push," the consecutive self-reports of two senior executives are likely to further prolong its listing journey, as regulators must first complete investigations into the executives' issues and assess their impact on governance and the veracity of historical disclosures before advancing to subsequent review stages.

Lingtong Society Observations

Viewed through all three timelines, Dongguan Securities' current predicament can be summarized as that of a regional brokerage with improving financials, absolute majority state ownership, and a prior reputation of being on the cusp of listing, now facing its gravest governance credibility crisis in an 11-year listing saga. With no details disclosed on the specific allegations against Chen and Gao, and no public information on whether the cases are linked or will implicate historical disclosures or filing materials, observers must await supervisory findings. What is certain is that exchanges and regulators will need ample time to evaluate the associated risks before advancing the IPO review, leaving the end of this 11-year marathon nowhere in sight for Dongguan Securities.

All information herein is sourced from public announcements by the Dongguan Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, the Dongguan Securities prospectus draft, and multiple financial media reports, serving purely as market observation rather than investment advice, with no judgment on any individual's compliance, pending official supervisory conclusions.