President Jung Il-moon of Korea Investment Securities Co.

Korea Investment Securities Co. is ready to take a crack at boosting its global operations and compete with global investment banks now that its global operations in Asia are on a solid foundation.

The company will strive to become a leading domestic securities firm operating overseas with a strategy drawn up thru an elaborate localization strategy, displaying its model as a super-sized IB overseas, also, under the management of new President Jung Il-moon.

In the meantime, KIS will continue to run the 9.5 trillion won Employment Insurance Fund for another four years, having been named the priority bidder. The Ministry of Labor and Employment announced that the Evaluation Committee picked KIS as the top point getter in the evaluation of technology and service fees in a public bidding for the asset management firm to take charge of managing the Employment Insurance Fund held at the Office of Supply in Banpo-dong, Seoul, on March 28.

KIS will run the fund from July 2019 until June 2023 for a second term. Other bidders included NH Investment Securities, Shinhan Financial Investment, and KB Securities. Samsung Asset Management also won the right to continue to run the 18 trillion won reinsurance fund for another four years.
CEO Jung set the brokerage’s goal to achieve a 1 trillion won ($893 million) operating profit this year and reach a 1 trillion won net profit within three years during his term. Jung said during this year's first press conference that he will do whatever it takes to achieve these goals.

“The current market situation isn't very favorable. There are not only external risks such as the ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and China but also internal challenges including mounting household debts as well as Korea's slow growth trend,” he said. “The goal is to reach a 1 trillion won operating profit this year and another 1 trillion won net profit within three years.”

He also said the securities firm will create synergy with other Korea Investment Holdings' subsidiaries. Korea Investment & Securities is the holding group's brokerage subsidiary. Jung talked about possible cooperation with Kakao Bank.

Korea Investment Holdings is the internet-only bank's largest shareholder.

Korea Investment & Securities plans to launch a brokerage account service via Kakao Bank by the end of the first half.

“Korea Investment Holdings found some differences while it jointly worked with the internet-only bank as its largest shareholder. It took long to narrow the gap,” Jung said.

“As much as we manage to narrow the gap, however, we will create enormous synergy with Kakao Bank.”

He also left the door open to Kakao Bank's takeover of Baro Investment & Securities.

Brokerage house Korea Investment & Securities Co. Ltd. has acquired a 75 percent stake in a mid-sized Indonesian securities firm for $36.6 million (40 billion won) in early December, according to a company statement.

Korea Investment Holdings announced that its subsidiary, Korea Investment & Securities, has bought a major stake in Danpac Sekuritas as part of its efforts to strengthen overseas business. It confirmed that all relevant approvals including those from Otoritas Jasa Keuangan of Indonesia have been obtained.

Korea Investment & Securities Co. Ltd. has acquired a 15-story office building in the City of London for 200.5 million pounds ($266 million), taking advantage of the weakened pound and the attractive valuation of UK properties compared to other European real estate markets.

The purchase of the grade A tower at 70 Mark Lane was the first property investment by the South Korean securities company in London and expected to generate an annual yield at the upper end of the 6% range, depending on currency hedging cost and gains from the prospective sale.

A view of the KIS building in Seoul, where the Korea Investment Securities Co. is located. (Photos: KIS)