South Korean brokerage firms, often dubbed "dream workplaces," posted record earnings amid a booming stock market.
According to preliminary figures on the "First-Quarter 2026 Operating Results of Securities and Futures Firms" released by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Thursday, brokerages' combined net profit during the period reached 4.3271 trillion won, up 77.1% from 2.4428 trillion won a year earlier. It marks the highest quarterly performance on record.
The first-quarter net profit alone amounted to 44.9% of last year's annual net profit of 9.6455 trillion won, which was itself an all-time annual high. In effect, brokerages earned nearly half of last year's full-year net profit in a single quarter.
A surge in domestic stock trading volume drove brokerage commissions sharply higher, leading the jump in earnings. Brokerage commissions, the fees customers pay to securities firms when buying and selling stocks, totaled 4.3020 trillion won in the first quarter alone, up 2.6835 trillion won, or 165.8%, from 1.6185 trillion won a year earlier.
Other revenue streams also rose broadly alongside brokerage commissions. Fees from asset management, including fund sales and investment advisory services, increased 89.4% from a year earlier. Brokerages' proprietary trading gains came to 4.1026 trillion won, up 30.8% from 3.1368 trillion won a year earlier.
Gains from stocks and funds, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), rose 7.2046 trillion won on the back of gains in domestic indices. Derivatives-related gains, by contrast, fell 3.9396 trillion won, while bond gains declined 2.2993 trillion won amid rising market interest rates.
As of the first quarter, brokerages' total assets stood at 1,098.4 trillion won, up 154 trillion won, or 16.3%, from the end of last year, surpassing the 1,000 trillion won mark.
All 61 brokerage firms posted net capital ratios above the legal standard of 100%, indicating no issues with financial soundness.
Brokerage Employees: Six-Figure Salaries the Norm
As such strong earnings pushed the average annual salary of brokerage employees close to 200 million won, talk of "dream workplaces" emerged in many quarters. Last year, the average salary at Meritz Securities employees was 196 million won. It was followed by NH Investment & Securities at 180 million won, Daol Investment & Securities at 174 million won, Mirae Asset Securities at 170 million won, Samsung Securities at 169 million won and Kyobo Securities at 153 million won, with average salaries at most major brokerages well above 100 million won.
The total number of brokerage employees was also at its highest in 17 years. According to the Bank of Korea's Economic Statistics System and FSS data, the total number of securities firm employees stood at 39,711 at the end of the first quarter. The figure rose by 181 during the first quarter alone, the highest since the statistics began to be compiled in the third quarter of 2014. The figure includes all employees hired at overseas branches of domestic brokerages and at domestic branches of foreign brokerages.
