Mobile Investment in the Securities Industry 'Thumbs Up'

Last Year, Cumulative MTS Downloads Surpassed 1 Million, Accounts Increased
Rise in Overseas Stock Trading Marks the Era of Stock Investment 'Eomjijok'

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] As the number of investors trading stocks via smartphones increases, last year, major securities firms recorded double-digit growth rates in mobile trading service (MTS) downloads. This is interpreted as a result of the rapid increase in overseas stock investments and the strategic efforts by securities firms to attract 'thumb users' for overseas stock trading through various incentives.

According to the securities industry on the 10th, the cumulative number of MTS downloads by major domestic securities firms exceeded 1 million last year. Korea Investment & Securities, which operates two MTS apps, had a total of about 1.51 million cumulative downloads (combined Android and iOS) last year for its existing 'eFriend Smart' and the newly developed app 'Korea Investment Stock.' Korea Investment & Securities linked the watchlists set on the Home Trading System (HTS) to be viewable on the MTS as well, and categorized market capitalization and industries by themes so that users can see market trends at a glance. It also supports searching for chart trends and patterns.

KB Securities also surpassed 1 million cumulative MTS downloads, with a total of about 1.44 million (combined Android and iOS). Kiwoom Securities operates 'Hero Moon S' for domestic stock trading and 'Hero Moon G' for global stock trading; combined, their cumulative downloads reach 3.7 million. Although the growth rate of MTS downloads inevitably slowed compared to the initial phase, last year’s total MTS downloads increased by 16% year-on-year to 680,000. Considering that Hero Moon G was launched in April, this indicates a steady influx of thumb users.

The number of accounts using MTS for stock trading after downloading the app also increased significantly last year. NH Investment & Securities reported that the number of active MTS accounts (combined Android and iOS) rose by 58%, from 646,055 in the previous year to 943,336 last year. As competition among firms intensified with free MTS commissions last year, even those who do not actually trade tend to download the MTS first, making the argument that downloads do not reflect actual trading less convincing.

In particular, last year saw a rapid increase in overseas stock investments, with more cases of overseas stock trading being completed on smartphones with just one finger.

For example, the proportion of overseas stock trading amounts in KB Securities’ MTS transactions surged from 27% in 2018 to 45% last year. This was attributed to proactive responses to the rapidly increasing number of overseas stock investors. In January last year, KB Securities launched 'Global One Market,' an integrated margin service allowing trading of overseas stocks from six major global markets (Korea, the U.S., China A-shares, Hong Kong, Japan, and Vietnam) in Korean won without foreign exchange fees, actively attracting overseas stock investors. The number of subscribers exceeded 10,000 in early May and surpassed 100,000 within about seven months (as of December 15). Notably, after adding the Vietnam market to the Global One Market trading countries, transaction agreements increased 2.8 times compared to the first half of the year and 4.7 times year-on-year, showing a rise in actual transactions. Vietnam was one of the emerging countries that domestic investors paid the most attention to last year and was the only country to see net inflows when overseas funds were withdrawn due to the U.S.-China trade dispute.

Samsung Securities also saw about a 20% increase in total MTS downloads last year compared to the previous year, partly influenced by the rise in overseas stock investors. Samsung Securities allows overseas stock trading on its existing MTS, so there may be limited new customer inflow since a separate overseas stock app is not required, yet the number of downloads still increased by double digits.

A securities industry official said, "Recently, the number of overseas stock investors has greatly increased, and their stock trading via MTS has also risen," adding, "While it is difficult for domestic stock-only MTS downloads to increase as before, attention is focused on customer inflow through overseas stock trading MTS."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.