Pre-tax profits at South Korean brokerages halved in the six months from April to September, from a year earlier, due to falling commission fees, provisional government data showed on Sunday.
The slide in profits reinforced a call last month by South Korea's central bank, the Bank of Korea, for the overcrowded brokerage industry to be restructured to ease fierce competition that had squeezed profits.
The combined earnings of 42 local securities companies fell to 443.9 billion won ($388 million), from 914.4 billion won in the same six-month period last year, the regulatory Financial Supervisory Service said.
South Korea's benchmark stock index fell 5.2 percent between April and September in a sluggish economy.
The average daily turnover on the country's exchanges fell 23.6 percent, with a sharp fall in trading by retail investors. Trading volumes in the six months slumped to 339 trillion won from 444 trillion a year earlier.
"Brokerage commission dropped due to a fall in stock trading volumes and profits from securities in proprietary accounts," the service said in a statement.
In contrast, 15 foreign securities companies operating in South Korea saw flat profits. They earned a combined 148.7 billion won in the pre-tax profit in the same period, virtually unchanged with 149.8 billion won in profits a year earlier.