Last Year's Stock Market Boom Effect
Samsung Securities Sales Head Receives 5.4 Billion KRW Bonus, Over 76 Times Annual Salary
Mirae Asset PB Director Also Gets 4 Billion KRW Bonus
Employees Earning More Than CEOs Increasing
The stock market of 2020, which experienced the highest rollercoaster ride in history, ended on a record high. The night view of Yeouido's financial district, ushering in 2021, is dazzling. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@
[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] Last year, securities firms that earned huge profits from the 'stock investment boom' paid record-breaking performance bonuses to their employees. One branch manager received a performance bonus exceeding 5 billion won, more than 76 times his annual salary.
According to the business reports of major securities firms on the 1st, Kang, a branch manager at Samsung Securities, earned 5.539 billion won in labor income last year. His salary was set at 71 million won, and his bonus at 5.453 billion won. Samsung Securities calculates performance bonuses for PB sales specialists by multiplying 12-50% of the profits generated from retail brokerage trading after deducting the break-even point (BEP). This performance bonus exceeded 76 times his salary, which is more than three times the annual compensation of Samsung Securities CEO Jang Seok-hoon (1.71 billion won).
Yoon, a PB director at Mirae Asset Securities, also received a bonus of 4.04 billion won last year. Yoon’s annual salary was 120 million won, with total compensation amounting to 4.134 billion won, exceeding that of Senior Vice Chairman Choi Hyun-man (4.061 billion won).
Lee, a deputy manager at NH Investment & Securities, had an annual salary of 64 million won but received a performance bonus of 1.578 billion won last year. Lee, an assistant director at KB Securities, also received a salary of 60 million won and a performance bonus of 1.134 billion won. NH Investment & Securities calculates sales staff performance bonuses by multiplying up to 40% of generated profits, while KB Securities applies 60% of excess profits. Additionally, Park, an executive director at Korea Investment & Securities (1.536 billion won), Lee, a deputy general manager (1.4 billion won), and Yoon, a sales executive at Hana Financial Investment (1.58 billion won), all received performance bonuses exceeding ten times their salaries.
Among securities company CEOs, Senior Vice Chairman Choi Hyun-man of Mirae Asset Securities recorded the highest compensation last year with a performance bonus increase exceeding 1 billion won. Notably, the company’s President Ma Deuk-rak received a total annual compensation of 3.196 billion won including retirement pay, and Executive Director Kim Yeon-chu and Vice President also earned total compensation of 2.275 billion won and 2.13 billion won respectively. All five top earners with compensation exceeding 500 million won surpassed 2 billion won.
Vice Chairman Choi Hee-moon of Meritz Securities ranked second with a total of 2.286 billion won, including a salary of 800 million won and a bonus of 1.469 billion won. Following were Kim Nam-gu, Chairman of Korea Investment & Securities (1.887 billion won), Samsung Securities CEO Jang Seok-hoon (1.71 billion won), and Korea Investment & Securities President Jung Il-moon (1.527 billion won). CEO Lee Jin-guk of Hana Financial Investment (1.359 billion won) and NH Securities President Jung Young-chae (1.283 billion won) also had total compensation exceeding 1 billion won.
A securities industry official said, "Last year, trading volumes increased several times compared to previous years, and the retail sector benefited the most from incentives. Although we expected the head office sales to perform poorly due to COVID-19, they did better than expected, so head office executives also received substantial incentives."
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