Futures firms, brokerages sharply down due to tepid derivatives market

Published : Feb 17, 2017 - 09:26 Updated : Feb 17, 2017 - 09:26

South Korean futures firms and brokerage houses have declined sharply in the recent seven years due to a deep slump in the local derivatives market, industry data showed Friday.

The number of futures firms stood at five as of September last year, more than halving from 11 tallied in 2009, with their employees shrinking to 395 from 683, according to the data compiled by the Korea Financial Investment Association.

(Yonhap)

Over the same period, the number of brokerages also fell to 56 from 62, while their workers dropped to 35,920 from 40,391.

The sharp decline in such companies came as the local derivatives market has contracted due to tightened regulations.

The financial authorities came up with a series of measures in 2011 to clamp down on speculative investment that had been widespread in the market at that time, raising the basic trading unit to 500,000 won from 100,000 won.

Following the measures, the daily turnover of futures trading has been in a steady decline since 2011, when it peaked at 45.4 trillion won. It fell to 17 trillion won last year, from 32 trillion won in 2012 and 19 trillion won in 2014. (Yonhap)