BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese listed brokerage firms saw net profits shrink in September compared to the same period last year, the Securities Times reported Thursday.

As of Wednesday, 26 of the 32 A-share listed brokerage firms reported profit losses in September, among which 12 had their profits slashed in half, the newspaper said.

In the first nine months, 28 listed brokerage firms registered a total net profit of 37.63 billion yuan (about 5.43 billion U.S. dollars), down 26.43 percent from the previous year.

Changjiang Securities and Guoyuan Securities, whose market values are more than 15 billion yuan, reported profit losses of over 60 percent in the first nine months. Both firms cited deleveraging and the central government's tightened securities regulations as causes for the slumps.

"Securities brokerages will continue to face headwinds in the rest of the year due to adjustments in economic structure, but long-term investment opportunities will surface as leading brokerage firms come up with new portfolios," according to China Securities.

Excessive leverage and mounting non-performing loans have vexed the Chinese economy over the past few years. To rein in financial risks, China has rolled out measures including debt-to-equity swap and disposal of loss-making companies' debt to reduce the corporate leverage ratio since 2017.

The leverage ratio of China's financial sector continued to fall in the second quarter of the year, retreating to the level of 2014, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.