The total trust assets of trust companies increased by 5% compared to the previous year, but the corresponding fees decreased by more than 10%. This is interpreted as a continuation of the aftershocks from the Legoland and equity-linked securities (ELS) incidents.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the total trust assets of 60 trust companies at the end of last year amounted to 1,378.1 trillion won, an increase of 5.1% from the end of the previous year.

Among these, the total trust assets of 46 hybrid trust companies amount to 951.1 trillion won, while the total trust assets of 14 real estate trust companies are 427 trillion won. Compared to the end of the previous year, hybrid trust companies grew by 4.7%, and real estate trust companies grew by 6.2%.

By trust property, cash constitutes 632.8 trillion won, which is a 5.2% increase compared to the end of the previous year. Retirement pensions increased by 38.2 trillion won, but there was a reduction of 8.7 trillion won in bond types due to the detection of illegal self-trading in bond-type wrap trusts following the Legoland incident. As sales of Hong Kong H-index ELS surged, equity-linked trusts also decreased by 18.6 trillion won. Real estate trusts amounted to 744.5 trillion won, increasing by 5.1% from the end of the previous year.

Last year, the fees of trust companies totaled 2.0629 trillion won, down 11.8% from the previous year. Fees for hybrid trust companies (1.2905 trillion won) decreased by 4.9%, while fees for real estate trust companies (772.4 billion won) fell by 21.2%.

By asset type, the fees for cash trusts decreased by 6.6% to 1.2006 trillion won, while fees for real estate trusts plummeted by 19.7% to 814.1 billion won. Due to the characteristics of land trusts, which recognize revenue based on the degree of completion, even with an increase in trust assets, trust fees fell due to the sluggish new business and a drastic reduction in construction business sites.

The FSS noted, 'While the overall trust assets increased due to the expansion of retirement pensions, the fees decreased because of the effects of Legoland and ELS,' adding that 'the performance of real estate trust companies worsened due to the stagnation of the real estate market.'

Accordingly, the FSS plans to strengthen risk management for trust companies and continuously monitor the risk factors of each business site of real estate trust companies.