Asset management companies' net profit for the third quarter (July–September) this year surged by more than 500 billion won from a year earlier.
The Financial Supervisory Service on the 1st announced "Operating results of asset management companies for the third quarter of 2025," saying net profit of asset management companies in the third quarter was provisionally tallied at 944.7 billion won.
Net profit of asset management companies in the third quarter of last year was 413.4 billion won, rising 532.3 billion won (128.5%) over the year. Compared with the previous quarter (855.5 billion won), it increased 10.4%.
Operating profit was tallied at 996.3 billion won. It rose 34.8% from the previous quarter (738.9 billion won) and 154.9% from the same period a year earlier (390.9 billion won).
The strong third-quarter results of asset management companies largely reflected a broad rise in the domestic stock market on expectations for government policy and improved earnings in key industries such as semiconductors. An Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) official said, "Profitability continues to improve due to increases in firms' assets under custody, management fees, and investment returns on proprietary assets."
Third-quarter fee revenue was 1.5137 trillion won, up 396.8 billion won (35.5%) from a year earlier. Selling, general and administrative expenses came to 740.5 billion won, up 35.9 billion won (5.1%) over the same period.
Of 501 asset management companies, 299 (59.7%) were in the black and the remaining 202 (40.3%) were in the red. In particular, while the share of loss-making firms among 78 public offering managers fell 6.4 percentage points from the previous quarter to 14.1%, the share among 423 private equity managers rose 2.3 percentage points to 45.2%.
The total assets under management of 505 asset management companies stood at 1,868.8 trillion won, up 69.4 trillion won (3.9%) from the previous quarter. Fund assets under custody increased 5.0% during the period, from 1,168.7 trillion won to 1,226.8 trillion won, while discretionary investment contracts totaled 642 trillion won, up 1.8% from the previous quarter.
An Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) official said, "As the performance gap among managers widens, the top 30 accounted for about 80% of third-quarter net profit," adding, "Growth in the public fund market relies on exchange-traded funds (ETF), while the traditional general public fund market has stagnated."
On the direction of future supervision, the official said, "We will create conditions for balanced development among managers and for improving global management capabilities and competitiveness, and we will monitor trends in fund inflows and outflows to ensure the protection of financial investors."