This upstart Chinese brokerage is now bigger than Credit Suisse

East Money Information, founded by a 49-year-old former stock commentator, is one of the big winners in China’s wildest stock frenzy in half a decade.

Shares in the online broker and market data provider have rocketed 78 per cent this year, giving it a market value of more than 200 billion yuan ($29 billion). That puts it among the world’s biggest traded institutional brokers, making it more valuable than even Credit Suisse, according to the Bloomberg data.

Its founder, a former analyst and columnist who goes by his pen name, Qi Shi, has become very rich. After starting the firm in 2005