With the KOSPI posting a 76 percent gain last year and markets booming, more employees at South Korean brokerages received higher pay than their chief executives, the article said.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on March 17, Noh Hye-ran (노혜란), a sales branch head at Samsung Securities' Family Office Financial Center 1, received a total of 1.817 billion won last year to rank first in pay at the firm.

Of that, 1.685 billion won was bonuses, with one-off income accounting for most of the annual pay.

Samsung Securities said Noh is providing optimal solutions tailored to customers' financial needs and, in particular, offered a range of stock and product investment ideas to wealthy clients and corporate customers.

Samsung Securities CEO Park Jong-moon (박종문) earned 1.804 billion won, less than Noh. The year before, Park received 1.591 billion won and Noh received 1.237 billion won, but their pay rankings reversed.

At Hana Securities, Kim Dong-hyun (김동현), an executive director-level official, topped the list with 2.176 billion won. Kim, a specialist executive at a branch, received 2.048 billion won in bonuses alone.

A department head surnamed Kim at the same brokerage, head of the Apgujeong Financial Center and a specialist contract employee at a branch, followed with a total of 1.899 billion won. Given that Hana Securities CEO Kang Seong-mook (강성묵) received 659,000,000 won, the department head's pay was about 2.9 times the CEO's.

At NH Investment & Securities, managing director Shin Dong-seop (신동섭) logged total compensation of 2.008 billion won last year. That was 78,000,000 won more than NH Investment & Securities CEO Yoon Byeong-woon (윤병운), who received 1.93 billion won.

At Yuanta Securities, three retail directors ranked at the top. Retail director Lee Jong-seok (이종석) earned 7.432 billion won last year, about 7.5 times the 991,000,000 won received by Yuanta Securities CEO Luo Zhipeng (뤄즈펑). Retail directors Koo Ki-il (구기일) and Park Hwan-jin (박환진) followed.

A department head surnamed Lee and an assistant manager surnamed Shin at Yuanta Securities also exceeded CEO-level compensation, receiving 1.828 billion won and 1.625 billion won, respectively.

At Daol Investment & Securities, senior manager Park Shin-wook (박신욱) ranked first with 3.919 billion won. The number of employees whose pay exceeded the 1.804 billion won received last year by CEO and chairman Lee Byung-chul (이병철) rose by one each among senior managers and managers, bringing the total to three.

Similar cases are likely to be common at brokerages that have not yet released business reports. With the KOSPI staying strong this year and trading value surging to record levels, the article said more employees are expected to secure high pay.