Asset Management Firms' AUM Reach 1,800 Trillion Won in Q2... "Performance Improves Amid Bullish Stock Market"

A Net Profit of 855.5 Billion Won, Up 92.5% from Previous Quarter
Financial Supervisory Service Releases "Second Quarter 2025 Asset Management Company Business Performance"

In the second quarter of this year, the assets under management (AUM) of asset management companies reached 1,800 trillion won. Thanks to a bullish stock market and other factors, their performance also improved significantly.

According to the "Preliminary Business Performance of Asset Management Companies for the Second Quarter of 2025," released by the Financial Supervisory Service on September 3, the AUM of 500 asset management companies stood at 1,799.4 trillion won in the second quarter of this year. This represents an increase of 69.2 trillion won (4.0%) compared to 1,730.2 trillion won at the end of March.

Fund assets under custody grew by 5.6% to 1,168.7 trillion won. Public fund assets under custody increased by 41.1 trillion won (9.1%) to 490.8 trillion won, while private fund assets under custody also reached 490.8 trillion won, up 21.1 trillion won (3.2%). Discretionary investment contracts rose by 1.1% to 630.7 trillion won.

The net profit of asset management companies was 855.5 billion won, up 411 billion won (92.5%) from the previous quarter. Operating revenue reached 1.6312 trillion won, an increase of 267.4 billion won (19.6%) due to higher fee income and gains on securities investments. Return on equity (ROE) was 20.6%, up 9.6 percentage points from the previous quarter.

Out of 493 asset management companies, 299 recorded a profit, while 194 posted a loss. The proportion of loss-making companies was 39.4%, down 14.9 percentage points from the previous quarter. Among 415 private asset management companies, 253 (60.5%) were in the red in the previous quarter. However, in the second quarter, the number of loss-making companies dropped to 178, reducing the loss ratio to 42.9%.

In the second quarter, fee income of asset management companies was 1.206 trillion won, up 157.2 billion won (15.0%) from the previous quarter. Compared to the same period last year, this represents an increase of 121.8 billion won (11.2%).

Fund-related fees amounted to 999.1 billion won, up 133.7 billion won (15.4%) from the previous quarter and 101 billion won (11.2%) year-on-year. Discretionary advisory fees also rose to 206.9 billion won, up 23.5 billion won (12.8%) from the previous quarter and 20.8 billion won (12.6%) from a year earlier.

Gains on securities investments reached 288.3 billion won, an increase of 210.1 billion won (287.2%) from the previous quarter and 193.1 billion won (214.1%) from the same period last year. Selling and administrative expenses were 763.4 billion won, up 20.7 billion won (2.8%) from the previous quarter and 70.2 billion won (10.1%) year-on-year.

The Financial Supervisory Service explained, "Profitability has improved significantly as the scale of assets under management and securities investment income increased, and the proportion of loss-making companies has also decreased markedly." The agency attributed this mainly to capital inflows into the capital market, driven by rising domestic and international stock indices and expectations for government policies.