Seoul, June 13, 2026 — South Korea's 61 securities firms posted a combined net profit of ₩4.33 trillion (USD 2.63 billion) in the first quarter of 2026 — equivalent to 44.9 percent of the industry's entire record annual profit of ₩9.65 trillion in 2025 — as a tripling of KOSPI trading volume pushed brokerage commissions to all-time highs, according to Financial Supervisory Service data published Thursday.
The quarterly profit more than doubled from ₩1.86 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2025, a 132.6 percent surge, and rose 77.1 percent from the ₩2.44 trillion posted in the same period last year — a pace that, if sustained, would put the industry on track for a full-year profit approaching ₩17 trillion.
At the vanguard was Mirae Asset Securities (006800.KS), which recorded a net profit of ₩1.0019 trillion — the first time a South Korean brokerage had ever crossed the ₩1 trillion mark in a single quarter. Operating profit surged 297 percent to ₩1.375 trillion. Korea Investment & Securities, which had held the industry's top-profit ranking for the past three years, followed with a net profit of ₩784.7 billion, up 75 percent year-on-year.
Trading Volume as the Engine
The windfall traces directly to a historic surge in retail and institutional trading. The total value of stocks traded on Korean exchanges reached ₩2,775 trillion in the quarter — a 333.1 percent jump from ₩641 trillion in Q1 2025. The average daily trading value on the KOSPI alone hit ₩29.65 trillion, up from ₩10.88 trillion in Q1 2025 and ₩16.56 trillion in Q4 2025.
That tide lifted commissions sharply: brokerage commission income surged 165.8 percent year-on-year to ₩4.3 trillion, while wealth management fees climbed 89.4 percent to ₩672.1 billion. Investment banking fees, by contrast, remained essentially flat at ₩944.5 billion — suggesting the boom was driven by secondary-market activity rather than new capital issuance.
Proprietary trading income rose 30.8 percent to ₩4.1 trillion, and the industry's total assets climbed 16.3 percent to ₩1,098.4 trillion — crossing the ₩1 quadrillion threshold for the first time. Average net capital ratios held at 999.5 percent, nearly ten times the 100 percent regulatory minimum, while leverage averaged 718.3 percent, comfortably within the 1,100 percent ceiling.
Structural Shift, Regulatory Caution
The results mark a broadening structural challenge to South Korea's traditionally bank-dominant financial system. With retail investors increasingly channeling savings into equities rather than deposits — accelerated by the KOSPI's multi-year rally — brokerages have begun to rival commercial banks as profit engines within the larger financial conglomerates. The five largest financial group brokerage units posted a combined profit of ₩1.23 trillion in Q1, more than doubling their fourth-quarter 2025 figure.
Yet the Financial Supervisory Service struck a cautious note alongside the blockbuster numbers. The regulator flagged "persistent uncertainties in financial markets" and pledged continued oversight of real estate project financing, where brokerage exposure remains elevated following years of property-sector stress. Derivatives-related income fell ₩3.94 trillion during the quarter — a reminder that not all trading flows convert linearly into profit, and that the desk-level mix matters as much as raw volume.
Sources: Korea Herald, June 12, 2026; Seoul Economic Daily, May 12 & 14, 2026; KED Global, May 15, 2026
