[Digital Today reporter Oh Sang-yup (오상엽)] The securities industry's annual shareholder meeting season is getting under way in earnest. This year marks the first round of meetings since a revision to the Commercial Act. The mood is to review governance restructuring, CEO appointments and shareholder return policies as well as performance.

The financial investment industry said on March 24 that Mirae Asset Securities, Daishin Securities and LS Securities held shareholder meetings on March 24. NH Investment & Securities and Kiwoom Securities will hold meetings on March 26, while Korea Investment Holdings is set to hold a meeting on March 27.

In the securities industry, this season's meetings are seen as a test to check both management stability and the ability to respond to institutional changes after improved industry conditions.

The first point to watch is the management lineup. With major brokerages posting record-level results on the back of last year's stock market boom and improved investment banking and wealth management performance, many companies chose continuity over change.

Mirae Asset Securities reappointed Vice Chairman Kim Mi-seop (김미섭), Vice Chairman Huh Sun-ho (허선호) and President Jeon Kyung-nam (전경남) as inside directors at this year's meeting. As outside directors, board chair Song Jae-yong (송재용) and outside director Seok Jun-hee (석준희) were reappointed, while Ahn Soo-hyun (안수현), a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Law School, was newly appointed.

Korea Investment & Securities is in a situation where CEO Kim Sung-hwan (김성환) is likely to be reappointed. Korea Investment & Securities said brokerage, wealth management, investment banking and asset management all grew evenly, posting consolidated operating profit of 2.3427 trillion won and net profit of 2.0135 trillion won last year. It became the first domestic brokerage to record annual net profit in the 2 trillion won range.

Daishin Securities and LS Securities, by contrast, are showing a move to a new CEO structure. At Daishin Securities, CEO Oh Ik-geun (오익근), who led the company for 6 years, stepped down and Vice President Jin Seung-wook (진승욱) was appointed as the new CEO. LS Securities on March 24 formalised a new management structure by approving an agenda item to appoint Hong Won-sik (홍원식) as an inside director at its shareholder meeting.

NH Investment & Securities' CEO Yoon Byung-woon (윤병운) has already seen his term end, but a decision on whether to reappoint him was delayed amid discussions on governance restructuring at parent NongHyup Federation of Cooperatives. It was reported that the company will reopen its executive candidate recommendation committee after appointing new outside directors and reach a conclusion around mid-April. The possibility of switching to a co-CEO structure is also being mentioned.

The second point to watch is charter revisions ahead of implementation of the revised Commercial Act. The key is how brokerages revise charter wording in line with the intent of the amended law, including cumulative voting, separate election of audit committee members and an expanded duty of care for directors.

Samsung Securities passed an agenda item to change its charter at a shareholder meeting on March 20. Mirae Asset Securities also confirmed an agenda item to revise its charter, showing the nature of a pre-emptive response to institutional change.

As the Commercial Act revision ongoing since last year directly affects board operations and the structure for exercising shareholder rights, market assessments going forward are likely to vary depending on how far brokerages accept small shareholder protection and internal checks.

The third point to watch is shareholder returns. This year, brokerages are competitively strengthening shareholder-friendly policies aligned with the value-up phase by moving beyond higher dividends to include treasury share cancellations and targets for payout ratios.

Samsung Securities said it plans over the mid to long term to increase dividends to as much as 50 percent of net profit. Samsung Securities' dividend payout ratio this year is around 35.5 percent. At this shareholder meeting, all agenda items passed, including approval of financial statements, charter changes, appointment of an outside director who serves as an audit committee member, and approval of the cap on directors' remuneration.

Mirae Asset Securities presented a more aggressive return plan. Based on fiscal year 2025, it decided on total shareholder returns of 634.7 billion won, including about 174.2 billion won in cash dividends, about 290.3 billion won in stock dividends and 170.2 billion won in treasury share cancellations. This is about 40 percent of net profit.

Across the industry, there is also a trend in which the centre of gravity in shareholder returns is shifting from simple dividends to treasury share cancellations.

NH Investment & Securities presented a plan to pay dividends of 950 won per common share and 1,000 won per preferred share, along with a plan to cancel 3.4 million treasury shares worth about 50 billion won. Kiwoom Securities is implementing a three-year treasury share cancellation roadmap along with a target of a shareholder return ratio of at least 30 percent. Daishin Securities is also pushing a plan to cancel a total of 15.35 million treasury shares in phases.

In the end, many companies at this year's securities industry shareholder meetings are again backing existing management on the back of solid results, while some companies have taken on improving profitability and strengthening internal controls as tasks through CEO replacements.

At the same time, as charter revisions in line with the Commercial Act revision get into full swing, shareholder meetings are becoming a starting point for governance change. With competition to return value to shareholders centred on dividends and treasury share cancellations added, the meetings are expected to continue as a place to check who runs the company under what structure and standards.

An industry official said, "The better a company's performance, the more it emphasised continuity and expanded returns, and the more a company still had burden factors, the more risk management and governance reorganisation emerged as more important agenda items." The official added, "There are differences by brokerage, but it is clear that this year's shareholder meeting season is changing in a direction that ties together performance checks, institutional responses and shareholder value enhancement."