Asset management firms' net income last year jumped by more than 1 trillion won from a year earlier.
The Financial Supervisory Service announced on the 30th "2025 asset management company operating results (provisional)" and said last year's net income at asset managers totaled 3.0132 trillion won. That was up 66.5% (1.2033 trillion won) from 2024. Operating profit was 3.0202 trillion won, up 81.1% (1.3526 trillion won) from a year earlier.
Total assets under management were 1,937.3 trillion won, up 17% (280.9 trillion won), with increases in fund assets under custody accounting for 241 trillion won.
The rise largely reflected an increase in assets under management centered on exchange-traded funds (ETF) as the domestic stock market trended higher last year. As a result, about 70% of all managers posted a profit, and the number of companies with capital erosion fell, with overall profitability and soundness improving together.
Specifically, 343 out of 507 asset managers (67.7%) were profitable, while the remaining 164 (32.3%) posted losses. Notably, among 77 public offering managers, the share of loss-making firms fell 11.2 percentage points from a year earlier to 7.8%, while among 430 private equity managers it fell 10.5 percentage points to 36.7%.
Total assets under management at the 507 asset managers were 1,937.3 trillion won, up 280.9 trillion won (17.0%) from a year earlier. Fund assets under custody rose 23.1% over the period, from 1,042.2 trillion won to 1,283.2 trillion won, and discretionary investment contracts increased 6.5% to 654.1 trillion won.
Fee revenue was 5.4989 trillion won last year, up 1.0898 trillion won (24.7%) from a year earlier. In particular, gains and losses on securities investments from proprietary asset operations came to 851.9 billion won, up 228.2% (592.4 billion won) in a year. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose 399.7 billion won (13.2%) over the same period to 3.4164 trillion won.
On supervisory direction, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said that, with market volatility heightened by the potential for a prolonged Middle East conflict, it will focus on monitoring fund inflows and outflows and the soundness of managers. Over the longer term, it will continue supervisory and institutional improvements so the asset management industry can pursue sound, well-balanced growth while enhancing investor benefits.
An FSS official said, "With volatility in market indicators such as stock prices and interest rates widening due to the Middle East conflict, related uncertainties persist," adding, "Because growth in the fund market relies heavily on ETFs, there are concerns about concentration in large managers, widening performance gaps among asset managers, and excessive competition."