Citizens walking through the Yeouido financial district. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top securities firms have narrowed their gender pay gaps over the past five years, but disparities remain substantial, according to regulatory filings released on Sunday.
Semiannual reports submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service show that the average first-half salary at the country’s 10 largest brokerages reached 103.5 million won this year.
Meritz Securities posted the highest figure, with an average of 131.4 million won per employee, followed by Korea Investment & Securities (129 million won) and Daishin Securities (121 million won).
But women — who make up 43.6 percent of the workforce at the top 10 firms — earned significantly less. Their average first-half pay was 80.1 million won, or 66.4 percent of the male average of 120.7 million won.
The gap has narrowed from 2020, when women earned just 58.8 percent of men’s compensation. During the same period, overall average pay at the top brokerages rose 18.5 percent, with women’s pay increasing at a faster 30.2 percent pace compared with 15.3 percent for men.
Yeouido’s financial district. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Even so, wide disparities persist at individual companies.
At Meritz Securities — the highest-paying firm — men earned an average of 149.94 million won in the first half, nearly double the 77.28 million won paid to women. Notably, female employees there have a longer average tenure (7.4 years) than men (6.2 years).
Daishin Securities and Mirae Asset Securities showed relatively narrower gaps, yet women still earned only 80.9 percent and 74 percent of male employees’ pay, respectively.
Analysts attribute the divide largely to incentive-heavy compensation structures. Revenue-generating roles in trading and sales offer large performance bonuses and are dominated by men, while administrative and support functions — which pay less — employ a higher proportion of women.
At Korea Investment & Securities, for example, average first-half pay in headquarters sales reached 163.52 million won across all employees, compared with 114.5 million won in management and support.
Women account for just 29.9 percent of sales staff but 53.2 percent of support roles. Even within sales, the gap is stark: men earned an average of 191.72 million won, nearly twice the 99.8 million won paid to women.
Women remain scarce in senior leadership as well. As of June, just 46 of 510 executives — excluding outside directors — at the top brokerages were women, representing 8.6 percent.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
