▲ The financial district in Yeouido, Seoul
The net profit of domestic asset management companies in the first quarter surged to 3.3 times the level seen in the same period last year, marking the highest figure in over three years.
According to the 'Q1 2026 Business Performance of Asset Management Companies (Provisional)' released by the Financial Supervisory Service today, the net profit for the first quarter reached 1.4664 trillion won, the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2022.
This represents an increase of more than 1 trillion won compared to the same period last year (446.1 billion won) and a 91.2% rise compared to the previous quarter (766.8 billion won).
Operating profit stood at 1.3523 trillion won, a sharp increase of 54.0% from the previous quarter (878.3 billion won) and 232.5% from the same period last year (406.7 billion won).
The Return on Equity (ROE) for asset management companies rose to 31.0%, up 13.9 percentage points (p) from the previous quarter.
This growth is attributed to increased commission income driven by the sharp rise in the KOSPI index.
Commission income for the first quarter reached 1.8931 trillion won, a 9.5% increase from the previous quarter.
Of this, fund-related fees amounted to 1.4614 trillion won, and discretionary investment advisory fees totaled 431.6 billion won, marking increases of 3.5% and 36.4%, respectively.
Securities investment profit and loss recorded 319.6 billion won, up 14.7% from the previous quarter, while selling, general, and administrative expenses decreased by 22.1% to 911.8 billion won.
Assets under management (AUM) grew by 7.6% to 2,355.7 trillion won, led primarily by public offering funds.
Fund assets under custody reached 1,490.3 trillion won, an 8.7% increase from the previous quarter, while discretionary investment assets rose by 5.8% to 865.4 trillion won.
However, polarization is intensifying as the proportion of loss-making companies has increased.
Out of a total of 511 companies, the ratio of loss-making firms rose to 37.6%, up from 32.3% in the previous quarter.
The ratio of loss-making firms among public offering asset managers (77 companies) was 15.6%, and among private equity managers (434 companies) was 41.5%, marking increases of 7.8 percentage points and 4.7 percentage points, respectively.
This is interpreted as a result of deteriorating performance among some alternative investment managers due to the sluggish real estate market.
The Financial Supervisory Service assessed, "Performance gaps within the asset management industry are widening, as evidenced by the increase in the ratio of loss-making companies," adding, "As the fund market is being reorganized around ETFs, concentration in a few large asset managers and excessive competition continue."
It further stated, "We plan to continuously monitor for excessive concentration, such as in semiconductor company stocks and single-stock leveraged ETFs, as well as the financial soundness of asset managers, and will continue to improve supervision and regulations."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.