South Korean Brokerages Net Profits Surged in 2021, Data Shows

Transaction fees grew by 23.2% on-year to 16.8 trillion won.

South Korean banks traded a record amount of forex in 2021.

Based on data from the Financial Supervisory Service, Koreas financial regulator, 58 brokerage firms reported combined net profits of 9.09 trillion won ($7.5 billion) last year, an increase of 54.2% over the previous year.

Transaction fees grew by 23.2% on-year to 16.8 trillion won last year, according to the data. Likewise, earnings from investment banking fees increased by 31.9% on-year to 5.19 trillion won.

According to the data, return on equity, one of the key measures of profitability improved to 12.5% from 9.1% in 2014, while sales and administrative expenses rose 19% to 12.09 trillion won.

Despite their stellar performance last year, their net profit in the fourth quarter dropped 48% to 1.3 trillion won, raising concerns that their earnings could worsen.

Their total assets were 620 trillion won at the end of December, an increase of 9.9 trillion won from a year earlier.

The data showed that their liabilities remained almost unchanged at 542.4 trillion won, while their equity increased by 9.8 trillion won on-year to 77.6 trillion won.

2021 FX Metrics in South Korea

As reported early this year, the foreign exchange ( forex ) volume traded by the South Korean banks touched a record high in 2021, with the average daily figure at $58.31 billion.

The daily FX turnover for the year jumped by 10.3% when compared with the previous years $52.84 billion. The South Korean central bank started to record the forex market statistics in 2008, and the latest figure was the highest since then.

Spot forex average daily turnover last year in the country reached $22.71 billion, which is 11.6% higher than the previous year. FX derivatives demand also jumped by 9.4% to $35.59 billion.