High salaries on the securities beat are making headlines day after day, but the average pay for female employees actually fell below the overall average. On top of that, parental leave usage among employees was also below 50%, suggesting a still rigid corporate culture.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 18th, an analysis of pay at major securities firms, including Mirae Asset, Samsung, NH Investment, Hana, Yuanta, and Daol Investment & Securities, which submitted annual reports as of the day, showed that at most companies, the average pay per female employee was below the overall average.
At Mirae Asset Securities, the average pay per employee across the company was 157 million won. That was higher than the average pay for female employees across all divisions. By division, female employee pay was ▲ retail 146 million won ▲ headquarters sales 156 million won ▲ administration/support 137 million won.
At Samsung Securities, the only division where female employees' average pay per person (178 million won) exceeded the overall average (168 million won) was brokerage. But in other divisions (▲ investment banking 117 million won ▲ proprietary trading 113 million won ▲ corporate sales 133 million won ▲ other 122 million won), female employees' pay was still below the overall average.
In particular, Daol Investment & Securities showed a stark pay gap between men and women. While the average pay per male employee across all divisions reached 237 million won, female employees received 81 million won, showing a wide disparity.
At NH Investment & Securities as well, compared with the overall employee average of 184 million won, division-by-division pay for female employees was ▲ WM division 183 million won ▲ headquarters sales 150 million won ▲ headquarters support 133 million won, all below the average.
At Hana Securities, compared with the overall average of 147 million won, female employees were at ▲ branches 146 million won ▲ headquarters sales/operations/research 103 million won ▲ headquarters support 96 million won. At Yuanta Securities Korea, compared with the overall average of 136 million won, female employees were at ▲ branches 114 million won ▲ headquarters sales 88 million won ▲ headquarters administration 73 million won, showing clear division-by-division gaps.
Some say the differences stem from job characteristics or years of service, not from a culture of pay discrimination based simply on gender. A senior official in the securities industry said, "Recently, individual capability has become more important, and compared to the past, the gender ratio is close to half and half," adding, "As for pay, it depends on individual ability rather than gender differences."
An employee in the securities industry said, "In recent years, the securities sector has been hiring many female juniors, so the hiring threshold has fallen a lot," adding, "However, while the junior-level gender ratio has improved significantly, the proportion of women is relatively low in senior-level sales roles."
Meanwhile, parental leave usage was found to be mostly 50% or lower. Last year's parental leave usage rates were ▲ Mirae Asset Securities 41% ▲ Samsung Securities 30.30% ▲ NH Investment & Securities 34.6% ▲ Hana Securities 20.4% ▲ Yuanta Securities Korea 29% ▲ Daol Investment & Securities 25%.