By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Securities companies are expanding their workforce amid a bullish stock market and fierce competition in the industry. Young brains also choose the stock market as one of the most favored workplaces with high salaries and infinite possibility.
According to a compilation of semiannual reports by securities companies, the number of employees at 20 securities companies totaled 23,570. It is up 1,839 from six months ago when 21,731 people were employed.
The bullish stock market and the need to prepare for the competition after the introduction of the Capital Market Consolidation Act are motivating the brokerage houses to actively reinforce the workforce. Some of them are employing four or five times more rookies than they did last year.
Mirae Asset Securities, for example, increased the number of total staff by over 50 percent to 1,810 as of September, employing over 600 more from six months ago. It focused on recruiting experienced staff from other brokerage houses as well as employing qualified rookies.
Tong Yang Investment Bank and Daishin Securities also had the number of employees exceed 2,000. Samsung, Daewoo, Hyundai Securities and Woori Investment & Securities already have over 2,000 staff.
The war to recruit qualified workforce would be even fiercer as banks such as Kookmin Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea plan to start a securities business.
High salaries and the government's determination to make securities companies new key players of the financial industry also made competent people to knock on the doors of the stock market.
The average annual salary is nearing 100 million won. Male employees at Daewoo Securities, for example, were paid 31 million won on average during the three months of the first quarter this year. Kiwoom Securities paid 49.4 million won during the three months. The average monthly salary for male employees of the 20 securities firms totaled 7.5 million won.
The Capital Market Consolidation Act, which is expected to provide securities firms with an opportunity to transform into global investment banks, and the preference on stock investment products over bank savings deposits are also motivating jobseekers to bet their future in the stock market.
Most of the securities companies have over 10,000 resumes from job seekers looking for an entry position. Most are highly qualified, including some with licenses or degrees in finance.