Seoul: Asset management firms in South Korea saw their combined profit spike by 47 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier on a rise in commission income, data showed Wednesday. The combined net income of asset management firms here came to 856 billion won (US$615 million) in the April-June period, up from a net profit of 580 billion won a year earlier.
According to Yonhap News Agency, preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) indicated that from three months earlier, their net profit almost doubled. The increase was largely attributed to a rise in commission income. The companies' combined operating income came in at 739 billion won in the second quarter, compared with 469 billion won a year earlier.
Their return-on-equity, a major gauge of profitability, stood at 20.6 percent at the end of June, up from 15.3 percent a year ago. Total assets under management stood at 1,799.4 trillion won as of end-June, up from 1,612 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data. There were 500 asset management firms here as of end-June, the FSS said.