Foreign brokerage firms have been broadening their presence in South Korea to take up 40 percent in the Korean securities market as of the end of September this year while their Korean peers are going out of business or being merged amid financial struggles.
According to data from the Financial Supervisory Service on Monday, of the total 55 securities firms in Korea, 22 are headquartered overseas. Half of them including Nomura Securities, Daiwa Securities, Deutsche Asset Management, Macquarie Securities and Yuanta Securities are their Korean subsidiaries, and the other half including Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan Chase are local branches. In June, Korean subsidiary of China Merchants Securities started its business as the first Chinese brokerage house having operation in Korea, and in September, Japan’s Mizuho Securities opened its Korean branch.
In 2010, 21 out of 62 securities firms were overseas based. Over the period, eight Korean players shut down or merged their business; Hyundai Securities was acquired by KB Investment & Securities, IM Investment & Securities by Meritz Securities, Daewoo Securities by Mirae Asset Daewoo and Prudential Investment & Securities by Hanwha Investment & Securities.
By Shin Heon-cheol and Choi Mira
[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]