Real 'Joorini' Minors Surge... 214% Increase in 2 Years

KB Securities Customer Analysis... Minor Clients' Asset Scale Surges from 190 Billion to 610 Billion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] As stocks are widely used as a means of asset transfer to children, the number of minor stock investors has significantly increased.

KB Securities announced on the 28th that an analysis of all individual customers holding KB Securities brokerage accounts from January 2019 to last month showed that the number of stock accounts held by minors more than doubled in two years. According to the analysis, the number of minor customers at KB Securities surged by 214.4%, from 39,600 at the end of 2019 to 124,500 last month. In comparison, the total number of customers increased by 39.1%, from 4,106,800 to 5,710,700 during the same period, indicating that the growth rate for minors was more than five times steeper.

The asset size also increased explosively. During this period, the assets of minor customers rose by 225.3%, from 190 billion KRW to 610 billion KRW. This is more than double the 93.7% increase in assets of all individual customers (from 42.4 trillion KRW to 82.2 trillion KRW) over the same period. However, while the asset growth rate for all individual customers far exceeded the growth rate in customer numbers, there was little difference for minor customers. This is explained by the fact that most minor customers invest within the range below 20 million KRW, which is the threshold for gift tax imposition.

In particular, the proportion of directly invested assets such as stocks among minors’ assets has greatly increased. In 2019, the proportion of directly invested assets was 68%, lower than the 78% of adult customers. However, as of last month, the proportion of directly invested assets among minor customers reached 87%, almost the same level as the 87.1% of adult customers. The proportion of overseas stocks was 10.7% for minor customers, more than double that of adult customers at 4.1%. Amid the trend of increasing financial investment customers due to the stock market boom, stock investment is being widely used as a means of gift transfer and asset growth for children.

A KB Securities official said, "Stock investment by minors has become a major market trend," adding, "Currently, parents can only open accounts for minors by visiting securities firms, but if accessibility to the financial investment market expands in the future and financial investment education and youth-specialized services are provided, stock investment accounts for minors could contribute to the growth of South Korea’s financial market beyond merely serving as a means of asset transfer to children."

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