Brokerage houses in South Korea saw their earnings nosedive 19.2 percent in fiscal 2011 from a year earlier due to decreased commission and stock-related income, the financial regulator said Wednesday.

The combined net profit of 62 local and foreign securities firms operating here came to 2.26 trillion won ($1.98 billion) in the year that ended on March 31, down from 2.80 trillion won a year earlier, the Financial Supervisory Service said in a report.

The weaker bottom line is attributable to an overall decline in commission income, which covers brokerage, underwriting commissions and earnings in collective investment securities.

Underwriting commissions dropped 12.3 percent on-year to 523.8 billion won, while collective investment securities earnings plunged 21.5 percent to 525 billion won. Income from the firms’ brokerage commission, however, edged up 1.8 percent to 5.45 trillion won.

The annual report also showed stock-related income posting a loss of 283.2 billion won in the fiscal year, down from 742.1 billion won a year earlier.

For the fourth quarter alone, the combined earnings of brokerage houses stood at 516.4 billion won, compared with 508.7 won tallied in the previous quarter, the FSS said.

As of the end of March, the brokerages’ total assets came to 237.6 trillion won, up from 199.8 trillion won a year earlier, according to the report. 

(Yonhap News)