Citadel Securities’ UK Market-Making Profit Falls 38% as Parent Injects $100 Million

Citadel Securities' main UK market-making company earned $29.2 million in 2025, down 38.3% from a year earlier, according to accounts published at Companies House on Thursday. Its parent put $100 million of fresh capital into it, after taking a $100 million dividend in 2024.

The London unit shrank in a year when trading revenue across Citadel Securities rose about 25% to a record $12.2 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the figures.

London's trading industry is coming home!

Citadel Securities (Europe) Limited, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the largest financial regulator for all financial markets in the United Kingdom (UK).The UK regulator is responsible for the conduct of firms authorized under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Moreover, the FCA is also responsible for the regulation of behavior in retail and wholesale financial markets, supervision of the trading infrastructure that supports those markets, and the prudential regulation of firms not regulated by the PRA. Its rol The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the largest financial regulator for all financial markets in the United Kingdom (UK).The UK regulator is responsible for the conduct of firms authorized under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Moreover, the FCA is also responsible for the regulation of behavior in retail and wholesale financial markets, supervision of the trading infrastructure that supports those markets, and the prudential regulation of firms not regulated by the PRA. Its rol Read this Term (FCA), makes markets in equities Equities Equities can be characterized as stocks or shares in a company that investors can buy or sell. When you buy a stock, you are in essence buying an equity, becoming a partial owner of shares in a specific company or fund.However, equities do not pay a fixed interest rate, and as such are not considered guaranteed income. As such, equity markets are often associated with risk.When a company issues bonds, it’s taking loans from buyers. When a company offers shares, on the other hand, it’s selling pa Equities can be characterized as stocks or shares in a company that investors can buy or sell. When you buy a stock, you are in essence buying an equity, becoming a partial owner of shares in a specific company or fund.However, equities do not pay a fixed interest rate, and as such are not considered guaranteed income. As such, equity markets are often associated with risk.When a company issues bonds, it’s taking loans from buyers. When a company offers shares, on the other hand, it’s selling pa Read this Term, futures, interest rate swaps and government bonds. Its profit has fallen every year since it more than doubled to $113.4 million in 2022.

Lower Trading Volumes Cut Income by Almost a Fifth

Total income fell 18.7% year on year to $252.5 million, and operating profit dropped 44.2% to $39.9 million. Net gains on the trading book, the largest income line, declined 19.5% to $121.6 million.

The directors attributed the fall to lower trading volumes across the company's core markets and to spending on new strategies, including a larger market-making business in sterling-denominated bonds. Operating expenses fell 11.2% to $212.6 million.

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Profit was about $112.8 million in 2023 and $47.3 million in 2024. Income has fallen three years running, from $499 million in 2022 to the $432 million the company reported for 2023 and $310.8 million in 2024.

A Capital Injection Replaces the Dividend

The company paid no dividend in 2025, after returning $100 million to its sole shareholder in 2024. The shareholder then made a $100 million capital contribution "to fund increasing capital requirements," the accounts show.

Equity rose 37.4% to $474.3 million, and Common Equity Tier 1 capital climbed 49.5% to $444.7 million. Total assets grew 47.3% to $985.3 million, led by receivables from brokers, dealers and clearing houses, which rose to $498.9 million from $287.4 million.

Return on equity fell to 7.12% from 12.73%, while the daily average liquidity ratio dropped 11.09 percentage points to 28.2%. The directors linked the lower return to "higher working capital requirements to support its trading activity."

The Proprietary Arm Passed $1 Billion

Citadel Securities Finance (UK) Limited, a sister company that invests on a proprietary basis through appointed portfolio managers, reported a 25% rise in profit to $1.01 billion in accounts filed on September 18. Total income rose 22.3% to $2.35 billion.

The two years are not like-for-like. On January 1, 2025, in an internal reorganization, it gave up its holdings in Citadel units in Korea and China and acquired trading subsidiaries in Ireland, Singapore, Australia and Japan, which it said added to profit.

Together, the two UK companies earned $1.04 billion in 2025, up 21.5% from $855.2 million. London rival XTX Markets reported a 33% rise in combined UK profit for the same year.

Neither company has direct employees. Citadel Securities employs its European staff through Citadel Securities Europe Services Limited, which had an average of 277 people in London, Paris and Zurich in 2025, up from 244. Staff costs there rose 16.5% to $356.3 million.

China and Sterling Bonds Stay on the Plan

The market-making unit said it plans to set up a subsidiary to start trading in China and is expanding its sterling fixed income platform. Both plans also appeared in its accounts a year earlier.

Citadel Securities has also moved into digital assets and took a $400 million stake in Crypto.com in July.

In China, it applied to the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in January 2025 to set up a mainland brokerage, Bloomberg reported at the time. Five years earlier, Citadel Securities paid about $97 million to settle a CSRC probe into trading during the 2015 market rout