How to Read Korea’s Dividend Record Date After 2023

For decades, buying a Korean stock for its dividend meant committing before you knew the number. The record date came on December 31, and the board and shareholders set the dividend weeks later. A reform announced on January 31, 2023 lets a company reverse that order: declare the dividend first, then set a record date that follows. KB Financial Group shows what the new order looks like. Its board declared the fiscal 2025 dividend on February 5, 2026, and set the record date for February 27. The reform is optional, though, so the record date can now fall weeks or even months after December 31, and some companies still use December 31. This post covers how to tell which order a company uses, what changed for quarterly dividends, and where the timing still trips investors up. For the whole dividend chain, from decision to withholding, see the pillar guide to Korean dividends.

Key Takeaways

• The old order put the record date first. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said on January 31, 2023 that most Korean companies fixed the shareholders who’d be paid at year-end and only confirmed the amount at the spring meeting.
• The fix is optional and company by company. The Ministry of Justice’s reading of the Commercial Act lets a company separate its voting record date from its dividend record date, but only if it amends its articles.
• Fewer companies use it than have the right to. The FSC reported 1,008 listed companies, about 42%, with the change in their articles, but only 109 of 321 eligible payers, about 34%, used it for fiscal 2023 dividends.
• Quarterly dividends changed on January 21, 2025. A Capital Markets Act amendment, effective on promulgation, lets a board declare the amount within 45 days of the quarter-end and, if the articles allow it, set the record date afterward.
• You still have to buy early enough. Trades settle on T+2, so you generally need to buy two trading days before the record date.

Contents

1. The old order and why it existed
2. What the 2023 reform changed
3. Quarterly dividends: the 2025 amendment
4. How many companies switched
5. How to tell which order a company uses
6. Timing traps under the new order
7. Frequently asked questions

1. The old order and why it existed

The rule behind the old calendar is Article 354 of the Commercial Act. It lets a company treat the shareholders on the register on a set day as the ones entitled to a right, and it requires that day to fall within three months before the right is exercised. A December year-end company held its annual meeting in March, so a December 31 record date covered both the vote and the dividend. One date, set before anyone knew the amount.

KB Financial’s own filings show it. For fiscal 2013, its dividend decision of February 7, 2014, gave a record date of December 31, 2013, a board resolution of February 7, 2014, and a shareholders’ meeting on March 28, 2014. If you bought for that dividend, you’d commit five weeks before the board named a figure.

The FSC’s January 31, 2023 release put the investor’s problem plainly: you invested without knowing what dividend you’d receive. It added that overseas investors had dismissed Korean dividend investing as a “blind” bet and kept pressing for change. That’s a regulator quoting its critics, which tells you how settled the complaint was.

2. What the 2023 reform changed

The reform didn’t amend Article 354. The FSC and the Ministry of Justice announced it together, and the legal step was the Ministry’s interpretation: a company can set one record date for voting at the meeting and a separate record date for the dividend. The dividend record date can then come after the meeting or board has set the amount.

Two things follow. A company has to change its articles of incorporation to use the new order, so it doesn’t happen by default. And the FSC said the first year-end dividends under it could come in 2024, for fiscal 2023, once companies had amended their articles at the March 2023 meetings.

KB Financial is one that switched. On February 5, 2026, its board declared the fiscal 2025 cash dividend and set February 27, 2026 as the record date. A separate filing the same day said it designated that date under Article 59 of its articles. Payment was due within one month after shareholder approval at the annual meeting, as the Commercial Act requires. So the investor saw the board’s figure three weeks before the record date. Twelve years earlier, the same company’s investors saw it five weeks after.

3. Quarterly dividends: the 2025 amendment

Quarterly dividends couldn’t be fixed by interpretation. They needed a change in the statute itself, because the Capital Markets Act had fixed their record dates at the ends of March, June, and September. The FSC’s December 27, 2024, note described the amendment: it removed the wording that set those quarter-end record dates, and it let a company set the record date by board resolution or in its articles after the amount is decided. The quarterly provisions took effect on the day the law was promulgated, January 21, 2025.

Under Article 165-12 of the Capital Markets Act, the board has to declare a quarterly dividend within 45 days of the quarter-end, and the company has to pay within one month of that board decision unless the articles or the board set another date.

KB used the new quarterly order from the first quarter. Its board declared a first-quarter dividend on April 24, 2025 with a record date of May 12, 2025. In 2026 the pattern repeated: a declaration on April 23 with a May 8 record date and another on July 23 with an August 7 record date. KB’s record-date notice quotes the article that allows it: the board may set the record date and must give at least two weeks’ public notice.

For you, the sequence is simple: the board declares, the record date follows about two weeks later, and the law gives the company a month from the board’s decision to pay.

4. How many companies switched?

The FSC’s December 27, 2024 note gives two numbers for the 2024 payout season that are easy to confuse.

Measure	Count	What is a share of
Companies whose articles allow the new year-end order	1,008, about 42%	All KOSPI and KOSDAQ listed companies
Companies that used it for fiscal 2023 dividends, paid in 2024	109 of 321, about 34%	Companies that had the change in their articles and paid a year-end dividend

The second row is the one that’s easy to misread. Even among companies that had amended their articles and paid a dividend, about two in three kept the old order that year. Having the clause in the articles tells you the company can switch. It doesn’t tell you it did. Treat both figures as dated: the FSC published them in December 2024, and later counts by the exchange and the listed companies’ association measure different groups of companies, so don’t compare their percentages with these.

5. How to tell which order a company uses

The quickest check is the company’s dividend decision filing on DART, Korea’s counterpart to SEC EDGAR. It lists the record date and the board resolution date side by side, so compare them:

• Record date after the board date: the new order. You can see the declared amount before you buy.
• Record date before the board date: the old order. You’re buying on an estimate.

You’ll often find a separate record-date notice too. KB filed one each time, citing the article of its articles of incorporation that lets the board set the date. That citation is the evidence that the company has adopted the change, not just discussed it.

Don’t generalize from a group to its parts. On the same day KB Financial declared a dividend with a February 27 record date, its wholly owned subsidiary Kookmin Bank declared one with a record date of December 31, 2025. Kookmin Bank’s only shareholder is KB Financial, so no outside investor was affected. The example still makes the point: it’s a company choice, written into each company’s articles. KB also trades in New York as an ADR; our ADR guide covers what that route gives up.

6. Timing traps under the new order

Buying too close to the record date. Korean trades settle on T+2, so a purchase on the record date, or the day before, won’t put you on the register in time. For KB’s February 27, 2026 record date, that meant buying by February 25. Holidays move the count, and brokers publish a cut-off for each payout; check yours. Our settlement explainer covers the cycle.

Assuming December 31. Under the new order, each company picks its own year-end record date, and KB’s landed on February 27. If you held a stock on December 31 and sold in January, you may have sold before the record date and missed the dividend.

Treating the declared amount as final. A year-end amount declared by the board usually still needs shareholder approval (the exception is a company whose articles let the board approve the financial statements), and KB’s filing says it can change with the audit. KB’s February 2026 declaration went further: the board gave the chief executive authority to adjust the per-share amount so the company would meet the Restriction of Special Taxation Act’s tests for high-dividend companies. That tax rule is written for Korean residents, and it’s why KB’s board kept room to change the per-share amount after the declaration.

Reading the articles and stopping there. As the FSC’s figures show, the clause in the articles is a permission. The filing for each dividend tells you what the company actually did.

7. Frequently asked questions

What is a dividend record date in Korea?

It’s the day the shareholder register decides who receives the dividend. Under Article 354 of the Commercial Act, it has to fall within three months before the right is exercised.

Do all Korean companies now announce the dividend before the record date?

No. The new order needs an amendment to the articles, and the FSC’s count for the 2024 payout season found that about a third of eligible payers used it.

When should I buy to get a Korean dividend?

Generally at least two trading days before the record date, because trades settle on T+2. Check your broker’s cut-off.

Did the reform change quarterly dividends too?

Yes. A Capital Markets Act amendment effective on January 21, 2025 removed the fixed quarter-end record dates, so a company whose articles allow it can declare the amount and set the record date afterward.

Is the amount in a board’s dividend announcement final?

Usually not, for a year-end dividend. Unless the articles let the board approve the financial statements, shareholders still have to approve it, and the amount can change with the audit.

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Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice. It describes Korean statutes, regulator announcements and company filings as published on the dates cited, as of October 24, 2026. Company dividend practices differ and can change. Check each company’s filings and your broker’s cut-off dates before you act.

Last updated: October 28, 2026