Securities companies in Korea saw their earnings inch up in the first three quarters of fiscal 2010 from a year earlier, the financial regulator said Tuesday.

A total of 62 local and foreign brokerage houses operating in the country posted 2.09 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in net income for the April-December period, just 2.2 billion won more than a year earlier, the Financial Supervisory Service said in a statement.

The result came as the securities firms’ commission income lost ground due to stock market volatility, triggered by European debt woes and a slowdown in advanced economies, according to the FSS.

The companies, however, posted increased earnings from bond trading activities amid a cooling trend in interest rates, it noted.

For the October-December quarter, the tallied firms’ net income stood at 871.6 billion won, 17.8 percent more than three months earlier, it said.

The result is the sum of earnings by 42 local brokerage houses and 20 foreign-based firms.

The brokerage firms’ combined assets, meanwhile, grew 21.9 percent on-year to reach 199.8 trillion won as of the end of December as they increased holdings of stocks and bonds, the FSS noted.

Their combined debts also expanded 22.5 percent on-year to 162.6 trillion won as of end-December, the regulator said.

Meanwhile, futures companies in Korea saw their earnings shrink 22.9 percent in the first three quarters of fiscal 2010 from a year earlier, weighed by reduced commission income, the financial regulator said Tuesday.

Net income by nine local and foreign-based futures companies reached a combined 39 billion won in the April-December period, compared with 50.6 billion won a year earlier, according to the FSS.

The weaker bottom line is attributable to decreased commission income that followed a decline in entrusted financial derivatives transactions, the regulator noted.

During the cited period, the nine futures firms earned a combined 128.3 billion won in commission income, compared with 147.8 billion won a year earlier, according to the FSS.

Total assets of the futures firms also shed 14.3 percent on-year to reach 1.79 trillion won as of the end of December, the watchdog said.

The firms’ total debts shrank 19.9 percent on-year to 1.34 trillion won as of end-December, it added. 

(Yonhap News)