[SAFF 2020] Dongryeol Lee "Big Data and AI Dependence in Capital Markets Will Increase Due to COVID-19"

Dongryeol Lee, CTO of Korea Credit Information Services, Delivers Presentation on 'Capital Markets and Big Data'

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] “The importance of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) across the entire value chain of the capital market will increase further after the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).”

Lee Dong-ryeol, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Korea Credit Information Services, gave a presentation on the impact of big data and AI on the capital market after COVID-19 at the ‘2020 Seoul Asia Financial Forum: Post-COVID Financial Market Stabilization Measures’ held on the 20th at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul.

The '2020 Seoul Asia Financial Forum (SAFF 2020)' hosted by Asia Economy was held on the 20th at the Western Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Lee Dong-ryeol, CTO of Korea Credit Information Services, is giving a lecture on capital markets and big data. This event, held under the theme 'Post-Corona, Financial Market Stabilization Measures,' aimed to deeply explore innovative strategies to overcome uncertainties in the era of the big blur of finance and capital markets. This year, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the safety of speakers and participants, the event was conducted via online live streaming. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

CTO Lee Dong-ryeol stated, “The importance of big data and AI will increase across all parts of the capital market value chain after COVID-19,” and predicted, “There will be more cases of utilization not only in trading and research areas but also in back office.”

In the trading sector, automated trading is on the rise. In the past, traders made decisions and performed tasks themselves, but now software handles everything. Looking at global investment banks (IBs), Goldman Sachs employed about 600 traders 15 years ago, but currently, it is staffed with 2 traders and 200 software developers.

Investment using robo-advisors is also increasing in the advisory area. This year, the total assets under management by robo-advisors reached 1,700 trillion won, more than five times compared to three years ago. Initially, specialized startups ventured into robo-advisory investment, but now existing financial information companies such as Vanguard and Charles Schwab are also expanding their market share.

In the research area, big data and AI are used to improve the accuracy of analysis results. CTO Lee explained, “Kensho, acquired by S&P Global in 2018 for about 600 billion won, provides big data-based research and analysis search services,” adding, “It is recognized as an innovative company that finds the impact on financial markets and correlations with financial indicators by natural language queries.”

Big data and AI are also expanding their scope of use into the back office area. In risk management, startups providing multi-dimensional risk analysis tools based on AI and visualization are increasing. Compliance tasks, such as monitoring and report writing, which were manually performed by humans, are now being replaced by machines, leading to improved work efficiency.

However, unconditional trust in big data and AI is expected to be cautioned against. He said, “If the data input into AI is contaminated, it can lead to wrong decisions,” and added, “There may also be attacks aimed at inducing AI misjudgment, so efforts to prevent this are necessary.”

Finally, CTO Lee emphasized, “Currently, big data and AI tend to be used as marketing elements for companies to differentiate themselves from others,” and stressed, “In the long term, dependence on big data and AI will increase and become essential for survival.”

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