[Net Profit of 6 Foreign Securities Firms in South Korea Soars 214% YoY in Q2, JPMorgan Tops with Approximately $148 Million] Odaily Planet Daily News: With South Korea's stock market surging significantly in the second quarter and the KOSPI surpassing 9,000 points for the first time, six foreign securities firms—JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, UBS, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup Global Markets—achieved a combined net profit of 630.5 billion KRW (approximately $455 million) in South Korea during Q2, marking a year-on-year increase of 213.8% and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 133.3%. Among them, JPMorgan ranked first with a net profit of 204.5 billion KRW (approximately $148 million), despite having only 87 employees in South Korea as of the end of June. Goldman Sachs recorded a Q2 net profit of 137.1 billion KRW (approximately $98.9 million). During the same period, foreign investors' trading volume in South Korea's securities market reached 1,851.9 trillion KRW (approximately $1.34 trillion), a year-on-year increase of 312%. The significant rise in trading activity is considered one of the main factors driving the performance growth of foreign securities firms. (Econovill)