Foreign Banks and Toss Post Record Quarters as Korea's Crypto Exchanges Slump

South Korea’s second-quarter financial results, disclosed on August 14, split the sector into two starkly different stories: foreign-owned banks and fintech brokerages posted the best quarters in their history, while the country’s two dominant cryptocurrency exchanges saw profits shrink or vanish outright.

Foreign-Owned Banks Deliver Historic Quarters

Standard Chartered Bank Korea reported a net profit of 319.6 billion won for the April–June quarter, a 230.5 percent jump from a year earlier and the largest quarterly profit in the bank’s history. Citibank Korea followed the same trajectory, earning 186.8 billion won in net profit — up 86 percent year-on-year and likewise a quarterly record.

Two foreign-owned lenders setting all-time highs in the same quarter is notable in a market where both institutions have spent years scaling back retail operations. Their results point to a favorable environment for corporate banking and treasury operations rather than a broad consumer lending boom, though neither bank’s disclosure breaks the drivers down in detail.

Toss Securities Extends Its Winning Streak

Toss Securities, the retail brokerage arm of fintech group Viva Republica, reported 207.9 billion won in operating profit for the second quarter, with revenue, operating profit, and net profit all reaching quarterly records. The firm’s cumulative first-half results also hit an all-time high, extending a growth run that has made it one of the most closely watched challengers to Korea’s established brokerages.

Crypto Exchanges Feel the Chill

The quarter was far less kind to digital-asset platforms. Bithumb, Korea’s second-largest exchange, swung to a net loss of 21.8 billion won as revenue fell 35.8 percent. Dunamu, the operator of market leader Upbit, stayed profitable but earned just 38.9 billion won in net profit — a 60 percent drop from the 97.6 billion won it made in the second quarter of last year.

The simultaneous deterioration at both major exchanges suggests the pressure is market-wide rather than company-specific: trading volumes, the lifeblood of exchange revenue, thin out quickly when retail enthusiasm for digital assets cools. For Bithumb, which has been laying groundwork for a public listing, a loss-making quarter complicates the narrative it needs to sell to investors.

Smaller Players: A Turnaround and a Record

Two smaller results rounded out the day. Lotte Insurance returned to the black with 3.1 billion won in operating profit and 1.3 billion won in net profit for the quarter — modest figures, but a swing back to quarterly profitability for the non-life insurer. Listed venture capital firm Stonebridge Ventures posted first-half revenue of 34.6 billion won and operating profit of 17 billion won, its best half-year performance on record.

A Sector Sorting Itself Out

Taken together, the day’s disclosures sketch a financial sector in rotation. Institutions tied to conventional banking spreads and retail equity trading are compounding gains, while businesses leveraged to crypto-market sentiment are absorbing a sharp downturn. Whether the exchanges’ slump is a cyclical trough or a structural repricing of Korea’s digital-asset boom will depend largely on trading activity in the second half — but for now, the profit engine of Korean finance is running on decidedly traditional fuel.