Samsung Asset Management said on Sunday that its KODEX securities ETF posted a 292.8 percent return over the past year, ranking No. 1 among all ETFs excluding leveraged products. It has also returned 99.4 percent since the start of the year, outperforming previously leading sectors such as semiconductors.

The securities ETF's strong performance is attributed to a surge in trading following the KOSPI breaking above 5,000. As investors' stock trading jumps, brokerage firms' brokerage commission income is expected to hit a record high.

Brokerage firms' aggressive efforts to return value to shareholders, in step with the government's value-up policy, are also boosting investor sentiment. Major firms have announced successive measures such as share buybacks and cancellations and larger dividends, in an assessment that increased attention to undervaluation appeal became a strong catalyst for the index's rise.

As the securities sector overall enjoys a boom, more investors are seeking to invest in the sector's broader growth rather than pick volatile individual stocks.

Lee Dae-hwan (이대환), a manager at Samsung Asset Management, said the sector's returns are outperforming other sectors on expectations of record earnings and shareholder return policies. He said more investors are choosing efficient investing through ETFs rather than investing in individual stocks, given the current environment in which the overall sector is expected to benefit.