"Half a Year’s Salary Buys a Cheongdam Penthouse": The Identity of the Employee Who Received 22.7 Billion Won

High Compensation Continues for Employees in Retail, WM, and S&T Sectors
Shift From Last Year's Bond Brokerage Dominance Alters Industry Landscape

This year, the strong performance of the domestic stock market in the first half led to the emergence of employees in the securities industry who received far higher compensation than their chief executive officers (CEOs). In particular, large bonuses were concentrated in areas that directly benefited from the market boom, such as stock brokerage, asset management, and sales & trading.

Yeouido financial district panorama. Pixabay

According to Yonhap News on August 14, citing the semiannual reports each securities firm submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service, Lee Jongseok, Head of Retail at Yuanta Securities, was confirmed as the highest-paid person in the securities industry during the first half of this year.

Mr. Lee received a total of 22,721 million won over six months. Of this, his base salary was just 13 million won and other labor income amounted to only 5 million won, but he was awarded a bonus of 22,703 million won. This is more than 24 times the 929 million won paid to Luo Zifeng, the CEO of the same company.

Mr. Lee is responsible for stock brokerage business, and most of his compensation was performance-based, reflecting his trading results. He had already been recognized as one of the highest-paid figures in the securities industry by earning 8,332 million won in 2024 and 7,432 million won in 2025, but this year his compensation surpassed 20 billion won in just the first half. At Yuanta Securities, Park Hwajin, Head of Retail, and Park Jongman, also Head of Retail, received 5,956 million won and 4,797 million won, respectively.

At Shinhan Investment Corp., Lee Jeongmin, Head of the Gwanghwamun Family Office Center, received 2,836 million won. At Kiwoom Securities, Executive Vice President Hong Wanki received 2,554 million won, based on his performance in stock lending, exchange-traded fund (ETF) liquidity providing, and derivatives management. At Hyundai Motor Securities, Go Youngjin, Head of Growth Finance, received the most, with 2,157 million won.

Even among CEOs and owner-managers, tens of billions of won in compensation continued to be reported. Kim Namgoo, Chairman of Korea Investment Holdings, received 2,444 million won from the holding company and 2,955 million won from Korea Investment & Securities, totaling 5,399 million won. Kim Sunghwan, CEO of Korea Investment & Securities, earned 4,589 million won. At Mirae Asset Securities, Vice Chairmen Kim Miseop and Heo Sunho received 2,344 million won and 2,203 million won, respectively.

Industry insiders analyzed that this year, unlike in the past when high salaries in the securities industry were led by bond brokerage employees, the surge in stock trading greatly increased performance bonuses in the retail, wealth management, and S&T (sales & trading) divisions. For example, Park Shinwook, Senior Manager at Daol Investment & Securities, was paid 1,865 million won for his bond brokerage performance in the first half of last year, but his compensation decreased to 726 million won in the first half of this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.