Korea Investment & Securities Co. is expected to lose its best and highest-paid strategists to rivaling Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. trying to reinforce derivative trading business, according to the country’s investment banking industry on Tuesday.

Kim Seong-rak, head of the IB division, and Kim Yeon-choo, head of the investment engineering team, both at Korea Investment & Securities, have offered to resign. They are said to be chased by industry leader Mirae Asset Daewoo, sources said.

The two bankers are iconic name in the Korean IB industry and are paid more than their bosses.

According to Korea Investment & Securities’ half-year report to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) in July, Kim Seong-rak received 2.26 billion won ($2 million) in the first six months of this year, which was the highest salary in the Korean IB industry. Kim Yeon-choo was paid 2.23 billion won, 900 million won more than what Korea Investment & Securities’ CEO earned, over the same period.

In Korea, not only registered board members but also non-board member executives and regular employees who earn more than 500 million won annually must report to the country’s financial regulator every six months under the law.

They were rewarded for their outstanding performance in trading exchange traded note (ETN) and equity-linked securities (ELS), according to the company.

The industry is closely watching where they are heading to.

The two reportedly are negotiating with the country’s biggest securities firm Mirae Asset Daewoo over new positions. Mirae Asset Daewoo confirmed it was in the midst of negotiating hiring terms with the two.

Mirae Asset Daewoo has been putting efforts to bolster its derivatives business under the management of Chairman Park Hyeon-joo. It has been aggressively recruiting the industry’s best talents in the derivative business to put its derivative trading business on the fast track.

By Kim Je-lim and Lee Ha-yeon

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