"Do Everything That Makes Money"... Securities Industry Expands New Revenue Streams

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jaehee] The securities industry, which has enjoyed a boom due to the prolonged low interest rate environment over the past several years, is now putting all its efforts into discovering new growth engines. This comes as the scale of individual stock market transactions has decreased due to recent domestic and international variables, and traditional securities businesses have reached saturation, leading to deteriorating profitability. Accordingly, the securities industry is expanding its business areas into real estate, virtual assets, and more.

According to the industry on the 25th, ShinYoung Securities is recently focusing on growing its family heritage service trust solution business targeted at high-net-worth individuals. It provides services such as asset succession, comprehensive asset management, protection, and support. Unlike competitors, anyone with assets exceeding 1 billion KRW can join. However, a unique point is that membership is only possible through referrals. This service was previously offered only by some banks, but seeing the increasing demand for trusts, ShinYoung Securities is viewing it as a new growth engine and expanding the business.

Even Meritz Securities, which was the fastest among securities firms to enter the alternative investment sector, is aggressively expanding into new business areas. Specializing in real estate finance, Meritz Securities has recently been expanding its business by investing in early-stage startups through its real estate finance business team.

An industry insider said, "As real estate project financing (PF) has become profitable recently, small and medium-sized firms are competitively entering the market," adding, "They are actively discovering companies in the early startup or pre-IPO stages."

Some securities firms are actively moving to make digital assets their new growth engine. Mirae Asset Securities, Hanwha Investment & Securities, and SK Securities are representative examples. These firms are actively establishing dedicated virtual asset organizations or specialized corporations, building virtual asset business platforms, and recruiting specialized personnel. Mirae Asset Securities is pushing to establish the industry's first corporation dedicated to virtual assets. It is also known to be developing a blockchain wallet. Hanwha Investment & Securities has invested in Dunamu, which operates a cryptocurrency exchange. SK Securities has newly expanded its digital division, including the digital business headquarters, and has recently entered the digital asset investment market.

An industry official said, "Traditional securities businesses themselves have reached saturation, and competition has intensified, leading to deteriorating profitability," adding, "Now, the policy of all companies, regardless of business division or sector, is to 'do whatever makes money'."

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