KB Securities Signs Joint Venture Agreement to Launch AI Easy Investment Brokerage Service

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] KB Securities announced on the 7th that it held a signing ceremony at the InterContinental Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, to launch a joint venture (JV) with December & Company Asset Management and NCSoft.

At the signing ceremony, the three companies announced their plan to enter the AI simple investment securities market by combining their core competencies: financial investment (KB Securities), asset management platform technology (December & Company), and AI technology (NCSoft). This represents a new type of digital securities firm model not yet seen in Korea, aiming to usher in an era of "simple financial investment without worries." It is part of a digital ecosystem expansion strategy to broaden the collaboration ecosystem with various fintech companies based on KB Securities’ infrastructure and licenses that have been promoted so far.

On the 6th, at the InterContinental Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, KB Securities, December & Company Asset Management, and NCSoft held a signing ceremony to launch a joint venture. Park Jeong-rim, CEO of KB Securities (left), Jeong In-young, CEO of December & Company (center), and Jeong Jin-su, Senior Vice President of NCSoft (right), are taking a commemorative photo.

The joint venture will be formed through capital participation by KB Securities and NCSoft in December & Company. December & Company currently offers Fint, a discretionary investment-based simple investment app, and plans to grow into a comprehensive financial platform operator by acquiring licenses for MyData, investment trading, and brokerage businesses in the future.

The three companies stated that they will achieve AI-based financial investment innovation reflecting the customer experience of "simple investment" and grow into "Korea’s best simple investment securities firm," a new type of financial investment company leading innovation in the financial investment industry.

In traditional financial investment businesses, the core was recommending suitable products and asset management to customers based on PB’s (Private Banker’s) investment advice. However, the AI simple investment securities firm will differentiate itself by having robo-advisors execute asset management and AI PB (a service where artificial intelligence, not humans, automatically provides asset management advice) provide asset management consultation. This signifies a paradigm shift toward asset management services for the general public rather than focusing on high-net-worth individuals. Based on KB Securities’ financial data and asset management know-how, advanced customized asset management services will be provided through December & Company’s AI engine ISSAC and simple investment platform PREFACE, and an "AI PB" service integrating NCSoft’s AI natural language processing technology will be developed to offer ultra-personalized integrated asset management services. Through this, customers will receive timely and appropriate asset advice regardless of asset size and be able to manage all assets easily and simply.

The joint venture is currently preparing to apply for MyData (personal credit information management business) and is expanding to provide comprehensive financial consulting that includes not only asset management but also financial product recommendations, loans, insurance, and expenditure management tailored to customers’ life cycles using a platform capable of personalized management. Initially, to expand payment functions, it plans to issue dedicated prepaid cards and provide proactive expenditure management services linked in real time with consumption situations. Furthermore, surplus funds accumulated through expenditure management will be connected to various investment services such as purpose funds and retirement fund management, serving as a content hub for customers’ financial lives, linking consumption to savings and investment. This strategy differs from the transaction-centered platform model of "simple remittance → financial services," which was the standard for big tech companies entering finance, by focusing on content-centered platform expansion that directly addresses customers’ financial concerns through necessary asset advice and management.

KB Securities plans to maintain a close business relationship with the joint venture going forward. It will collaborate based on the advanced technologies of NCSoft and December & Company in the financial investment sector, where new digital technologies such as AI are required, and will also seek mutually beneficial cooperation with various affiliates of KB Financial Group beyond financial investment.

Park Jung-rim, CEO of KB Securities, said, "Investors with relatively small asset sizes face difficulties investing on their own without sufficient advice. The new asset management service provided through this joint venture will lower the barriers to financial investment and greatly contribute to popularizing PB services."

KB Securities announced that the joint venture will be formed through capital participation of 30 billion KRW each from KB Securities and NCSoft into December & Company Asset Management, totaling 60 billion KRW, and will be fully operational with goals of 10 million subscribers and 10 trillion KRW in assets under management. The three companies will actively exchange ideas for various service developments and infrastructure construction and will sequentially launch services.

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