Last Year's Asset Management Firms Achieve Record High Performance... Net Profit Surpasses 2 Trillion Won

Asset Management Industry Surpasses 1322 Trillion Won with Over 100 Trillion Growth Last Year
Operating Revenue Jumps 40% as Fee Income Increases

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] Last year, the asset management industry grew by more than 100 trillion won compared to the previous year, reaching 1,322 trillion won. Following the investment boom after the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic asset management companies recorded their highest-ever performance.

As of the end of last year, the Financial Supervisory Service disclosed that the assets under management by asset management companies amounted to 1,322.2 trillion won, an increase of 124.4 trillion won (10.4%) compared to the previous year (1,197.8 trillion won). The fund custody balance was 785.7 trillion won, and the discretionary investment contract balance was 536.5 trillion won, increasing by 93.8 trillion won (13.6%) and 30.6 trillion won (6.1%) respectively compared to the end of the previous year.

During this period, public funds increased by 28.9 trillion won to 285.1 trillion won, and private funds rose by 64.9 trillion won to 500.6 trillion won. In the case of private funds, bond-type funds reached 96.6 trillion won, up 12.1 trillion won (14.4%) from the previous year, while real estate and special assets also expanded by 12.5% and 10.3%, recording 121.9 trillion won and 114.9 trillion won respectively.

The discretionary investment contract balance was 536.5 trillion won, with bond-type discretionary investments increasing by 33.8 trillion won, driving growth.

Last year, the net profit of asset management companies was 2.1643 trillion won, a sharp increase of 869.2 billion won (67.1%) compared to the previous year (1.2951 trillion won). Operating revenue also reached 5.5828 trillion won, with fee income increasing by 1.2321 trillion won (38.3%). This is an increase of 1.6109 trillion won (40.6%) compared to 2020.

In particular, fee income rose to 4.4507 trillion won due to the increase in assets under management and performance fees. Fund fees increased by 39.2% to 3.6788 trillion won, and discretionary advisory fees rose by 34.1% to 771.9 billion won. Securities investment gains from proprietary asset management (such as fund seeding) amounted to 690.7 billion won, up 10.6% from the previous year.

Among 348 asset management companies, 310 posted profits, while 38 recorded losses. The ratio of loss-making companies (10.9%) decreased by 10.9 percentage points compared to one year ago (21.8%). Among general private asset management companies, 30 out of 272 (11.0%) recorded losses, showing an improvement compared to the previous year (60 out of 251 companies, 23.9%).

Last year, the return on equity (ROE) was 20.2%, up 5.0 percentage points from 15.2% in 2020, indicating improved profitability.

Meanwhile, as of the end of last year, there were 348 asset management companies, an increase of 22 compared to the previous year. There are 76 public asset management companies and 272 general private asset management companies. The total number of employees was 11,080, an increase of 1,071 (10.7%) compared to the previous year (10,009).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.