The quarterly net profits of local brokerages declined sharply in the first fiscal quarter this year, the nation’s financial regulator said on Sunday.

The Financial Supervisory Service said that the 62 securities companies operating here posted a combined quarterly net profit of about 120 billion won ($108 million) in the January-March period, down 73.3 percent from the 446 billion won in the previous quarter.

Twenty-one of the 62 securities companies operating here ― 13 local firms and eight foreign firms ― plunged into the red. These 21 securities firms reported an average net capital rate of 453 percent, about 41 percentage points lower than that of the 41 rivals in the black.

The average net capital ratio for the firms consequently fell 12.4 percentage points to 493.9 percent on-quarter.

Losses in bond and bond-related investment largely accounted for the fall due to higher interest rates, the FSS data showed. On the whole, larger brokerage firms pulled down the combined net profit, with Samsung Securities, Woori Securities and KDB Daewoo Securities posting net earnings that contracted by 71.2 percent, 90.6 percent and 72.7 percent, respectively.

The brokerages were able to secure an additional 110 billion won by downsizing and closing down branches, but could not cover the 330 billion won contraction in net earnings.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)