Shenwan Hongyuan is the result of multiple mergers of Chinese securities firms. The company was first established on 16 September 1996, as Shenyin & Wanguo Securities via a merger between Shenyin Securities and Wanguo Securities. The merger happened in response to the "327 incident" which occurred in 1995. It involved a placement of a huge sell order on three-year
government bond futures shortly before the close of trading on 23 February. After the merger, the company was renamed to its current name, Shenwan Hongyuan and also became the second largest brokerage firm in China by market value at the time due to surge in stock price on its trading debut. However unlike the strong performance of its
A shares in 2015, the performance of its H share price dropped 12% on its trading debut. == Regulatory issues ==