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THE INVESTOR] Investment banking at local brokerages grew more than 41 percent from 2013 to 2015, with volume reaching 158.5 trillion won (US$137.65 million) last year, according to a local think tank.
A recent rise in merger and acquisition deals involving South Korean firms was cited as one of the main drivers behind the growth.
The Korea Exchange
In 2013, brokerages engaged in 112.17 trillion won worth of investment banking, but the figure expanded by 41.3 percent, said the Korea Capital Market Institute, citing data from the Financial Supervisory Service.
In particular, M&As investment banking more than doubled to 54.17 trillion won from 21.46 trillion won. They accounted for 34.18 percent of all investment banking operations, up from 19.13 percent in 2013. Corporate bond issuance volume, however, fell to 60.68 percent.
During the same period, investment banking commission fees rose to 1.23 trillion won for brokerages, up from 480 billion won.
By Kim Ji-hyun (
jemmie@heraldcorp.com)