[비즈한국] Domestic securities firms have shown a significant increase in assets and earnings, bolstered by last year's bullish stock market. According to the Financial Supervisory Service's Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System (DART), the total assets of the top 10 domestic securities firms for the 2025 fiscal year reached 841.9784 trillion won on a consolidated basis, a 24.15% increase from 678.199 trillion won at the end of the previous year. During the same period, net profit rose by 42.5% to 8.9731 trillion won, and operating profit increased by 39.6% to 11.1985 trillion won.
Mirae Asset Securities006800 held the largest assets at 150.2839 trillion won, followed by Korea Investment & Securities at 116.5642 trillion won. Daishin Securities003540 recorded the highest asset growth rate at 48.24%, while Kiwoom Securities039490 and NH Investment & Securities005940 also saw increases of 45.76% and 33.57%, respectively. In contrast, asset growth rates for Hana Securities and Shinhan Securities were relatively lower at 16.70% and 10.30%, respectively.
The top end of earnings also rose. Korea Investment & Securities' net profit for the 2025 fiscal year was 2.0135 trillion won, the highest among major securities firms. This figure exceeds the 1.814 trillion won net profit of NH Nonghyup Bank during the same period. With Mirae Asset Securities at 1.5936 trillion won, Kiwoom Securities at 1.115 trillion won, NH Investment & Securities at 1.0315 trillion won, and Samsung Securities at 1.0084 trillion won, a total of five securities firms recorded net profits exceeding 1 trillion won.
The improvement in securities firms' performance is attributed to the inflow of funds into the stock market and increased trading activity. Last year, the KOSPI rose more than 80% from its April low through the end of the year, while the number of active domestic stock trading accounts and the average daily trading value also increased. The expansion of investor deposits and trading volume likely supported the overall performance improvement of securities firms as it led to an increase in brokerage commissions and investment gains.
The expansion in performance also led to higher compensation. The average annual salary for top management, including CEOs, at the top 10 securities firms increased by 42% from 1.193 billion won a year ago to 1.695 billion won last year. While the average employee salary also increased by 12.7% during the same period, the steeper rise in executive pay caused the compensation gap between management and employees to widen from an average of 8 times to 10 times.
Employee compensation also rose across the board. Korea Investment & Securities saw the highest growth rate in average salary per employee, which rose 29.5% from 149 million won to 193 million won, and Meritz Securities was the only firm among the top 10 where the average employee salary exceeded 200 million won, reaching 203 million won. However, internal compensation gaps remain significant. While the gender pay gap among the top 10 securities firms narrowed slightly from 46.5% to 44.9%, at Meritz Securities, male employees' salaries were recorded as 102.5% higher than those of female employees.