"I Earned Tens of Billions in the Record-Breaking Bull Market"...Securities Firm Employees Outpaid Their CEOs

Record KOSPI Highs Lead to Performance Bonuses Worth Billions

Yuanta Securities Executive Receives 7.4 Billion Won—Seven Times the CEO's Pay

Daol Investment & Securities Manager Earns 3.9 Billion Won

Last year, as the Korean stock market reached record highs, many employees at domestic securities firms ended up receiving higher annual salaries than their own CEOs.

Securities Firm Employees Receive Tens of Billions of Won in Annual Salaries as KOSPI Hits All-Time High

According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on March 17, the individual who received the highest annual salary among securities firms that have disclosed their business reports so far was Lee Jongseok, Head of Retail at Yuanta Securities. His annual salary last year reached 7,432,000,000 won, which is approximately 7.5 times the 991,000,000 won received by Luo Zhipeng, CEO of Yuanta Securities.

Mr. Lee, who primarily oversees securities brokerage operations at Yuanta Securities, also received approximately 8,300,000,000 won in total compensation in 2024. At Yuanta Securities, Manager Lee and Deputy General Manager Shin also surpassed the CEO's salary, receiving 1,828,000,000 won and 1,625,000,000 won respectively.

On the afternoon of the 25th last month, when the KOSPI closing price surpassed 6,000 for the first time in history, employees were celebrating at the dealing room of Hana Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. 2026.2.25 Photo by Jo Yongjun

At Daol Investment & Securities, Chief Manager Park Shinwook earned 3,919,000,000 won, surpassing the 1,809,000,000 won compensation of CEO and Chairman Lee Byungchul last year.

Kim Donghyun, Executive Director (prospective) at Hana Securities, received 2,176,000,000 won. As a branch-specialized executive, Mr. Kim received 2,048,000,000 won solely as a bonus. At the same firm, Apgujeong Financial Center Manager and branch-specialized contract employee, Manager Kim, followed with a total of 1,899,000,000 won. Kang Seongmuk, CEO of Hana Securities, received 659,000,000 won.

High Bonuses for Stock Sales Targeting Wealthy Individuals and Corporations

No Hyeran, Head of Family Office Financial Center 1 at Samsung Securities, received a total of 1,817,000,000 won last year, making her the highest-paid employee at the firm. Of that amount, 1,685,000,000 won was in bonuses, so one-time income accounted for the majority of her annual pay. According to Samsung Securities’ business report, “Branch Head No is providing optimal solutions tailored to clients’ financial needs and has especially offered various stock and product investment ideas to wealthy individuals and corporate clients,” explaining the background behind her high salary.

Samsung Securities CEO Park Jongmoon’s salary was 1,804,000,000 won, less than Branch Head No. Two years ago, CEO Park received 1,591,000,000 won and Branch Head No received 1,237,000,000 won, but these figures have now been reversed.

At NH Investment & Securities, Executive Director Shin Dongseop received total compensation of 2,008,000,000 won last year. This was 78,000,000 won more than the 1,930,000,000 won compensation received by NH Investment & Securities CEO Yoon Byungwoon. However, in Mr. Shin’s case, most of the additional pay came from retirement benefits (approximately 1,400,000,000 won) due to long-term service, rather than bonuses linked to the stock market rally.

It is expected that similar cases will emerge at other securities firms whose business reports have not yet been released. In particular, as the KOSPI has risen further this year compared to last year and the influx of individual investors has led to a surge in trading volume, many executives and employees are projected to secure hefty annual salaries.

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