This summer has seen severe volatility, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fluctuating by several percent daily and semiconductor leverage products being cut in half. Yet, throughout this market turbulence, certain entities have turned a profit.

They are the five major financial holding companies, encompassing banks and securities firms that earn commissions on every transaction regardless of stock price movements.

In the first half of this year alone, their combined net profit reached 13.1183 trillion won.

This total, combining KB, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup, represents a 9.7% increase from a year earlier, marking an all-time high for the first half of a year.

Profits actually increased despite regulatory pressures on household lending.

The earnings were driven by two main pillars.

First is the securities sector.

As the stock market heated up, retail investors engaged in explosive trading, and the commissions collected from each transaction went directly to the securities firms.

The net profit earned by securities affiliates of the five financial holding groups over the six-month period amounted to 2.637 trillion won, more than double the figure from a year prior.

In particular, NH Investment & Securities saw its brokerage commission revenue for the first half surge by 211.7% from a year earlier to 795 billion won.

Driven by this momentum, NH Investment & Securities posted a record first-half net profit approaching 1 trillion won, coming in alone at 965.2 billion won.

KB Securities, Shinhan Securities, and Hana Securities also simultaneously posted record-level performances for the first half.

On the other axis, banking, interest filled the coffers.

As household loan caps restricted lending avenues, banks shifted their focus toward corporate loans. Meanwhile, rising market interest rates widened lending margins, ultimately generating larger net interest margins.

Consequently, Shinhan, KB, and Hana banks all posted net profits in the 2 trillion won range.

Among the five major banks, Woori Bank was the only one whose net profit declined, dropping 11.9% from a year earlier to 1.373 trillion won.

While bank interest income thus increased, loan barriers became even higher.

On the 10th of last month, KB Kookmin Bank lowered its maximum mortgage limit from 600 million won to 300 million won.

The measure applied equally across both the capital region and local areas, including first-time homebuyers.

Rather than stemming from government regulations, this was a self-imposed move by the bank to scale back limits after exceeding its household lending target from last year.

Backlash from genuine homebuyers followed, and criticisms emerged even within financial authorities.

Banks that have generated record-level profits are further tightening lending.

The increased profits have partly led to shareholder returns.

KB Financial Group and Shinhan Financial Group each decided to repurchase and retire treasury shares worth 700 billion won, while Hana Financial Group will retire 250 billion won and Woori Financial Group 150 billion won worth of treasury shares in the second half.

With quarterly dividends also increased alongside, part of the earnings improvement translated into expanded shareholder returns.

However, some projections suggest that if the stock market downturns in the second half, non-interest income could shrink first, though interest income might offset that gap if the base rate hike implemented on the 16th of last month is reflected in loan rates.

Reported by Yeo Hyeon-gyo | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News