Korea Investment & Securities has become the first securities firm to surpass KRW 1 trillion in operating profit on a semi-annual basis.

Korea Financial Group announced on the 6th that its subsidiary, Korea Investment & Securities, recorded a provisional operating profit of KRW 629.1 billion for the second quarter (April to June) of this year on a consolidated basis, marking a 64.1% increase compared to the same period last year. This is the highest quarterly performance to date. With an operating profit of KRW 518.8 billion in the first quarter (January to March), Korea Investment & Securities achieved an operating profit of KRW 1.1479 trillion for the first half (January to June).

The second quarter sales amounted to KRW 6.6247 trillion, a 39.18% increase from the same period last year. Given that first-quarter sales were KRW 4.9731 trillion, the first-half sales exceeded KRW 10 trillion.
The net profit for the second quarter was KRW 577 billion, up 68.62%. Considering the net profit of KRW 448.2 billion in the first quarter, the net profit for the first half already exceeded KRW 1 trillion. A representative from Korea Investment & Securities stated, “The balanced growth across all business sectors, combined with a profit base centered on capital operations, led to a significant improvement in performance.”

By sector, the revenue from brokerage services expanded due to the enhancement of the mobile trading system (MTS) in response to increased demand for stock trading. In the asset management sector, the strengthening of global specialized product supply led to an increase in individual customer financial product balances from KRW 67.7 trillion at the beginning of the year to KRW 76.1 trillion by the end of June. The company also achieved good results in traditional corporate finance (IB) areas such as initial public offerings (IPO), capital increases, and bond underwriting.

Korea Investment & Securities is leveraging this performance to pursue authorization as a comprehensive investment account (IMA) operator. The IMA is a unique product of comprehensive financial investment business operators (CIBs) that seeks high returns by investing customer deposits in various areas such as corporate bonds and loans. A minimum self-capital of KRW 8 trillion is required, and as of the end of June, Korea Investment & Securities' separate self-capital stood at KRW 10.5216 trillion, meeting this requirement.

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