Through the end of 2024, ESG bonds arranged by SK Securities totaled 415 issues, amounting to about 16.5 trillion won. The sustainability report the same firm released this year included a separate chapter on "sustainable finance," which bundles carbon finance, transition finance, ESG integration and productive finance. That differs from the earlier editing, which gathered and displayed community contribution figures. It is a trace of the unit of description moving from donation amounts to deal volume.
When the editing of a report changes, the assessment items applied from outside move along with it. SK Securities received an overall A grade in the Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability (KCGS) assessment, and an A+ grade in the environmental and social categories. It means the basis propping up the grade is passing from community contribution budgets to records of the core business.
Hana Securities wrote that it had invested 534.6 billion won in low-carbon industries such as waste resource recycling and renewable energy. Whether that is an annual outlay or a cumulative balance was presented in a single line with no distinction of period. Its disclosure system was rebuilt by applying the Korea Sustainability Standards Board (KSSB) standards ahead of schedule.
Shinhan Securities keeps an ESG committee under its board and runs a carbon neutrality strategy called "Zero Carbon Drive." It restricts investment in unsound sectors such as speculative industries and lending businesses.
DB Securities' ESG management and sustainable finance activities were introduced to the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF 2026) on July 7, 2026, through an official statement by the UN SDGs Association. The meeting was held at UN headquarters in New York from July 7 to 15. The goals under in-depth review included SDG 9, which covers industry, innovation and infrastructure.
In the sustainability reports published by domestic securities firms in the first half of this year, KSSB standards were applied ahead of schedule and greenhouse gas emissions were disclosed in quantitative terms. Performance that used to be written in sentences has come to have units.
The assets of the core business themselves have also grown. NH Investment & Securities' total assets on a separate basis rose 21.6% from 53.7513 trillion won at the end of 2025 to 65.3848 trillion won at the end of June 2026, and its equity capital increased 13.9% from 8.4874 trillion won to 9.667 trillion won over the same period. Loans on a consolidated basis stood at 7.4226 trillion won at the end of June 2026, 35.1% more than the 5.4925 trillion won at the same point a year earlier.
Loan loss provisions came to 252.8 billion won and the provisioning ratio was 3.4%, down from 3.6% at the end of 2025. By Korea Investors Service's tally, risk exposure swelled from 15.1797 trillion won at the end of 2022 to the 25 trillion won range at the end of March 2026.
After being designated an IMA operator in March 2026, the firm sold out the first issue of 400 billion won in April, the second of 120 billion won in June, and the third of 120 billion won, which opened subscriptions on Aug. 18. The cumulative amount raised is 640 billion won. For the third issue, with a maturity of two years and three months, the benchmark return was raised from 4.0% to 4.5% a year.
Of the 544.4 billion won in IMA investment assets at the end of June, loans and similar items account for 246 billion won, about 45%. Whether these assets are captured in the sustainable finance classification does not appear in the disclosures the company has put out.
It has become hard to measure the total volume of securities firms' ESG by skimming only the number and value of bond issues. Business is also scattered into loans and proprietary investments outside arranging records. The next point to check is whether the amounts attached to the carbon finance and transition finance items grow beyond this year's figures in the reports each firm releases in the first half of next year.
