The combined net profit of 184 investment advisory firms in South Korea plunged in the 2018 fiscal year as the local stock market remained bearish, data showed Tuesday.
The investment advisory firms reported a combined net profit of 7.3 billion won (US$6.1 million) during the fiscal year that ended in March this year, compared with a profit of 98.5 billion won the previous year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Their average return on equity, a measure of profitability, fell 15.7 percentage points from a year earlier to 1.3 percent.
Profitability at investment advisory firms worsened as contracts and commission fees declined, the FSS said.
South Korea's benchmark stock index stood at 2,140.67 points at the end of March this year, a sharp drop from 2,445.85 points the same time last year.
The FSS will step up its monitoring of potential financial risks of small and medium-sized investment advisory firms, it said.