KIS Hosts 2024 Stifel Research Forum, Invites Analysts from Stifel Financial Corp.

President Kim Sung-hwan of Korea Investment & Securities.

Korea Investment & Securities (KIS) hosted the 2024 Stifel Research Forum at its headquarters in Seoul, on Oct. 5, inviting analysts from Stifel Financial Corp. for the first time in Korea.

The forum was organized to analyze promising sectors and stocks in the U.S. and share investment strategies with private bankers from KIS branches across the nation.

Four Stifel analysts - Paul Matteis, Barry B. Bannister, Ruben Roy, and J. Parker Lane - presented the latest investment information and in-depth analysis on biotechnology, market strategy, semiconductors, optical and telecommunications equipment, and software, respectively.

It helped participants better understand U.S. stock investment environments atmosphere difficult to understand with existing reports, such as accurate news confirmed by direct communication with U.S. companies and the reactions of U.S. investors.

Analyst Reuben Loy is giving a lecture on the semiconductor industry at the ‘2024 Stiefel Research Forum’ held at the Yeouido headquarters of Korea Investment & Securities on October 5. (Photos: KIS)

“We hope that private bankers (PBs) who are working tirelessly in the field will gain insights to respond more agilely to the global market,” said Kim Sung-hwan, president of KIS. “We will continue to actively support PBs to enhance their capabilities and ultimately grow client assets effectively.”

Yoo Jong-woo, head of research at KIS, said, “The number of investors looking to invest in U.S. equities is on a sharp rise but it is difficult to get their hands on good-quality investment information in Korea due to various restrictions. We will continue to work with Stifel to provide timely and diverse investment information to help Korean investors diversify their investment portfolios.”

KIS has been collaborating with Stifel to boost its global asset management competitiveness. In March, the company launched the “Sleepless in USA” Service, which translates Stifel’s stock reports into Korean and provides them to retail clients.

The service is aimed at helping investors respond quickly to market changes by providing key reports which can interest investors a great deal and information value from Stifel’s reports published on the same day.

The reports are carefully selected by KIS twice a day - at 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

Strengthening Partnership with Carlyle Group

KIS announced on Oct. 14 that it held an event to celebrate the first anniversary of its strategic partnership with global private equity (PEF) manager Carlyle Group.

The event was attended by key executives from Carlyle, including Justine V. Plouffe, CIO of Carlyle Group and Lee Soo-yong, head of Asian strategy at Carlyle Group.

During the event, the two companies agreed to collaborate more closely on the development and operation of credit-based products.

Carlyle is a global general asset management company with $425 billion in assets under management as of the first half of 2024. Along with Blackstone and KKR, it is one of the top three private equity (PEF) managers in the world.

It has a strong focus on credit, including loans and structured notes. It entered into a strategic partnership with KIS in October of last year.

KIS has partnered with global financial firms, including Carlyle, to focus on overseas business.

SF Credit Partners, a joint venture with US-based Stifel Financial, is rapidly expanding its corporate finance capabilities and network in the United States, focusing on acquisition finance and private debt business.

In May, the company also established a collaborative relationship with Anchorage Capital to expand its structured credit business.

It is planning to accumulate various investment experience directly and indirectly through global financial firms and independently source overseas products to offer them to Korean investors in the mid to long term.

“Over the past year, we have been working with Carlyle to supply excellent financial products that are actively traded in developed financial markets to Korea,” said KIS President Kim Sung-hwan.

“We will pump up our efforts to focus on strengthening our retail product pipeline by utilizing our global network to provide stable and diverse investment opportunities for individual Korean investors.”