South Korean securities firms posted the worst net profit since the 2008 global financial crisis in the third quarter ( Q 3 ) ( between October and December ) last year . Domestic securities ’ net profit totaled 113 . 1 billion won ( $ 104 . 21 million ) in Q 3 last year , said the Financial Supervisory Service ( FSS ) Sunday . It was the lowest in 18 quarters since 93 . 4 billion of Q 2 in 2008 . The net profit plunged because the amount of stock transactions fell , which led to a sharp decline in commission income of securities firms . The total amount of stock transactions declined 9 . 1 percent on - quarter , or 38 trillion won , to 384 trillion won in Q 3 last year . As a result , securities firms ’ commission income arising from clients ’ stock transactions dropped 9 . 6 percent to 889 . 7 billion won in Q 3 from 983 . 8 billion won in Q 2 last year . The securities ’ accumulated net profit reached 787 . 7 billion won between Q 1 and Q 3 last year , down 55 . 0 percent on - year from 1 . 75 trillion won a year ago . The nation ’ s total amount of stock transactions stood at 1 , 193 trillion won for the first three quarters last year , down 30 . 4 percent on - year from 1 , 715 trillion won a year earlier , the lowest since 2008 . The numbers fell as the fiscal crisis in Europe and sluggish Chinese and US economies have delayed a recovery of the global economy . To weather the global downturn , domestic securities firms undertook restructuring including cutting payrolls and integrating their branch offices , but could not avoid the fallouts of the global economic slowdown . The securities ’ return on equity ( ROE ) slid 2 . 6 percentage points on - year to 1 . 9 percent in Q 3 . Meanwhile , net capital ratio ( NCR ) of the securities firms plummeted 70 . 1 percentage points to 498 . 3 percent late December last year from 568 . 4 percent of late 2011 . [ Written by Sun - ah Kim / edited by Soyoung Chung ] [ ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk . co . kr , All rights reserved ]