South Korean asset management companies saw their net profits edge down in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier due to a rise in operating and non-operating expenses, the financial watchdog said Sunday.

A total of 87 asset managers posted a combined 89.3 billion won ($80.6 million) in net income in the January-March period, compared with 89.5 billion won a year earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

The slight decline came as their selling and administrative expenses rose 2.7 percent on-year to 234.5 billion won from 228.4 billion won, while non-operating costs jumped nearly fivefold to 23.8 billion won from 4.2 billion won over the cited period.

Their commission income rose 11.6 percent on-year to 399.8 billion won and returns from securities investment climbed 4.9 percent to 8.5 billion won.

The asset managers' return on equity, a key gauge of profitability, stood at 9.4 percent as of end-March, down 0.6 percentage point from a year ago.

Total assets under management reached 764 trillion won at the end of March, up 119 trillion won, or 18.4 percent, from a year earlier, the FSS added. (Yonhap)