The headquarters of KB Securities in Yeouido, Seoul. [KB Securities]
The headquarters of KB Securities in Yeouido, Seoul. [KB Securities]

KB Securities surpassed 1 trillion won ($675 million) in operating profit in the first half of this year, setting a record for its best-ever half-year earnings. The result reflected broad-based growth across key business segments — wealth management, capital markets and wholesale — on the back of a strong domestic stock market.

According to a regulatory disclosure by KB Financial Group and KB Securities on Thursday, the brokerage posted consolidated operating profit of 1.05 trillion won, pretax profit of 1.08 trillion won and net profit for the period of 801 billion won in the first half of this year. "We achieved record first-half earnings on the strength of the stock market rally," KB Securities said.

KB Securities also significantly expanded its contribution to KB Financial Group's overall earnings. The brokerage's second-quarter net profit reached 448.5 billion won, up 182.1 percent from the same period last year, lifting its share of the group's first-half net profit to 21 percent.

Among business segments, wealth management stood out as the strongest performer. KB Securities restructured its sales operations around growing customer assets, strengthened tailored consulting services and expanded the supply of asset-allocation products such as funds and wrap accounts suited to market conditions. As a result, individual customer assets under management surpassed 200 trillion won.

The company also said it intensified marketing centered on banking and wealth management, upgraded AI-powered services and broadened customer asset inflows while delivering a differentiated investment experience.

The investment banking division strengthened its competitiveness across business lines despite persistent domestic and external uncertainty and market volatility.

In debt capital markets, KB Securities maintained its market dominance through large-scale lead underwriting mandates, including foreign exchange stabilization bonds and kimchi bond issuances. In equity capital markets, the firm handled four mid-sized company IPOs — RecensMedical, Chaevi, StradVision and Lemon Healthcare — as well as major deals including a rights offering by SKC.

The acquisition finance and mergers and acquisitions units strengthened their competitiveness on the back of high-quality domestic transactions, while project financing maintained stable profitability through prime projects in the Greater Seoul area and major cities, as well as deals backed by Korea Housing Finance Corp. guarantees. The division also expanded into new growth areas such as data centers.

The capital markets group grew revenue compared with the same period last year despite continued interest rate and exchange rate volatility, driven by expanded mezzanine investment returns from the domestic equity market rally, higher foreign exchange flow and proprietary trading income, and stronger collaboration in equity-linked securities sales and operations.

The wholesale division also posted a record first-half performance, underpinned by an integrated global and institutional sales platform. It expanded cross-border transactions linking international inbound client services with outbound markets, and improved profitability on the strength of its No. 1 market share in domestic institutional equities and its liquidity provider capabilities. The prime brokerage services unit continued its growth momentum as well.


th5@heraldcorp.com