ETF sales at the country's five major commercial banks - KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH Nonghyup - reached 56.73 trillion won ($37.12 billion) in the first months of this year, about 10.8 times the 5.21 trillion won recorded a year earlier, according to financial industry data on Sunday.
Sales commissions surged to 491.8 billion won from 44.1 billion won.
Bancassurance, the insurance products banks sell on behalf of insurers, moved in the opposite direction. New sales slipped 4.2 percent to 7.97 trillion won, while commission income fell to 134.8 billion won from 292.6 billion won.
The reversal marks a sharp turn for bancassurance, which had long thrived on tax breaks, guaranteed minimum returns and yields exceeding ordinary deposits. Its annual sales climbed steadily to 15.66 trillion won in 2025, dwarfing ETF sales that lagged well behind through 2024.
That balance flipped as domestic equities staged a record-breaking run from the latter half of last year, eroding appetite for savings-type insurance that ties up money for years.
Last year's ETF sales of 22.06 trillion won ran about 1.4 times ahead of bancassurance.
The momentum has intensified in 2026. ETF sales swelled 54 percent in May to 15.31 trillion won amid heightened KOSPI volatility, while bancassurance sales sank 43 percent over the same month.
Banks are themselves courting ETF business to stem a larger outflow of deposits to brokerages, since proceeds from ETF redemptions flow back into bank accounts, keeping the money within their walls.
A separate factor weighing on insurance has been weaker demand for dollar-denominated policies, which regulators flagged early this year over the risk of mis-selling.
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