Korea Investment & Securities (KIS) announced on May 14 through a preliminary earnings disclosure that its consolidated operating profit for the first quarter stood at 959.9 billion won, an 85% increase compared to the same period of 2025.
Its net profit for the same period hit 784.7 billion won, a year-on-year increase of 75.1%.
This is not a strong performance driven by temporary market conditions, but rather a trend of persistent profit growth every year.
It is evaluated that the company is building a stable profit base through business structure diversification and is achieving growth in stages in line with a domestic policy to foster mammoth-sized investment banks.
As of the first quarter, Korea Investment & Securities analyzed that it has established a hexagonal profit structure that is not leaned toward any specific sector with brokerage (BK) at 33.3%, wealth management (WM) at 9%, investment banking (IB) at 18.6%, and trading at 39.1%.
It is a virtuous cycle system in which each business division demonstrates organic synergies and grows evenly.
By division, its revenue related to brokerage ascended 55% compared to the previous quarter, significantly increasing non-face-to-face investment convenience amidst a boom in the Korean stock market.
Since the beginning of this year, the Korea Investment Mobile Trading System has implemented more than 50 functional reorganizations based on AI Transformation (AX), integrating AI-based customer experiences into four core pillars — investment information, asset management, automated investment, and retention.
Moreover, it has strengthened its ability to provide differentiated investment information by expanding the supply of exclusive research within the MTS through partnerships with global financial giants, such as J.P. Morgan and Guotai Haitong Securities.
In the asset management division, KIS’ sales commissions surged by 71.6%, driven by strong sales of financial products such as bonds, promissory notes, and beneficiary certificates.
This suggests its transition to a comprehensive asset management platform’ for individual customers and its move beyond a revenue structure centered on stock brokerage.
Its balance of financial products for individual customers expanded from 85.1 trillion won at the end of last year to 94.5 trillion won.
This means that an average of 3.1 trillion won in funds from individual customers has flowed into KIS every month since the beginning of this year.
KIS’ Corporate Finance Division logged a 14.7% increase in performance compared to the previous year, demonstrating its deal-finding capabilities across various areas - including ranking first in fee revenue in the IPO and ECM sectors.
In particular, as the investment management account (IMA) market, which debuted at the end of last year, has fully taken shape, KIS’ unique business model is becoming even more robust.
The business model combines retail product supply capabilities with IB deal sourcing capabilities.
The Asset Management and Sales & Trading Divisions also contributed to the strong performance, based on their operational capabilities in responding to market variables such as interest rates, exchange rates, stocks, and bonds.
Launch of JP Morgan US Tech Fund
KIS announced on May 7 that it will launch the Korea Investment JP Morgan US Tech Securities Investment Trust, which focuses on investing in US technology stocks, in cooperation with global asset management firm JP Morgan Asset Management.
The fund-of-funds product is based on the JP Morgan US Technology Fund, which had been established in Luxembourg as its parent fund.
It invests more than 60% of its total assets in the parent fund to invest in companies aligned with a long-term growth trend in the US technology industry.
This product is a follow-up to the strategic business agreement signed between KIS and JP Morgan Asset Management in March.
Through the agreement, the two companies decided to strengthen cooperation with retail customers by expanding the supply of JP Morgan Asset Management’s foreign products to domestic investors and providing global market insights through KIS’ mobile trading system (MTS).
The JP Morgan Global High Yield Fund introduced as the first product of the collaboration raised approximately 81.2 billion won in retail funds within about one week of sales which began on March 9.
_한투증권 김성환 사장.jpg)
_한투증권 도표_대지 1.jpg)
