Companies issued securities worth 28.56 trillion won ($21.56 billion) in September, up 74.9 percent from 16.33 trillion won in August - 28.17 trillion won in bonds and 385.3 billion won in equities, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
Bond sales jumped 77.5 percent from August, mostly from lenders. Issuance by banks, financial holding companies and non-bank lenders rose 74.2 percent to 25.80 trillion won from August.
Bank bond sales climbed 87.0 percent to 11.57 trillion won, while non-bank lenders raised 12.68 trillion won, up 79.0 percent. Within non-bank financial issues, securities firms sold 1.45 trillion won of bonds, surging 622.5 percent from 200 billion won in August. Financial holding companies issued 1.55 trillion won, up 0.3 percent.
Stock and bond sales totaled 197.81 trillion won in the first nine months of 2026, falling 12.6 percent from a year earlier. Equity issuance fell 48.5 percent, while bond issuance declined 10.9 percent.
Bond sales by non-financial companies also were active on concerns of interest rates going higher. Their issuance surged 457.7 percent to 1.73 trillion won from 310 billion won in August, with most of the proceeds used to refinance maturing debt.
Among bonds issued by non-financial companies, 53.2 percent were rated AA or higher and 46.8 percent were rated A. None were rated BBB or below.
Non-financial companies continued to repay more bonds than they sold. Redemptions reached 4.92 trillion won, exceeding new issuance by 3.19 trillion won.
Total corporate bonds outstanding rose 1.1 percent from the end of August to 777.12 trillion won.
Asset-backed securities issuance fell 14.3 percent to 645.1 billion won.
Equity offerings declined 15.3 percent from August to 385.3 billion won, as rights offerings fell despite an increase in initial public offerings (IPOs). Rights offerings brought in 169.7 billion won, down 42.3 percent, while IPOs rose 34.2 percent to 215.6 billion won.
All nine IPOs went to KOSDAQ, the country's junior market, including three special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).
Meanwhile, short-term borrowing also rebounded. Companies sold 183.33 trillion won of commercial paper and short-term bonds in September, up 23.0 percent from August.
Commercial paper issuance climbed 22.0 percent to 56.44 trillion won. Standard commercial paper rose 14.9 percent, while asset-backed commercial paper tied to real estate projects jumped 45.9 percent.
Short-term bond sales increased 23.4 percent to 126.89 trillion won. Standard issuance surged 37.5 percent to 94.22 trillion won, while issuance backed by real estate project assets fell 0.4 percent and other asset-backed short-term bonds declined 9.1 percent.
Outstanding commercial paper fell 2.0 percent from the end of August to 246.80 trillion won, while outstanding short-term bonds rose 1.0 percent to 96.12 trillion won.
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