[New Year's Message] Kim Seonghwan, President of Hantoo: "Innovation is Survival, Discovering Differentiated Businesses Across All Sectors"

Kim Sung-hwan, CEO of Korea Investment & Securities, emphasized on the 2nd that "innovation is survival and change is opportunity," urging that "differentiated businesses must be discovered across all departments of the company."

Kim Sung-hwan, President of Korea Investment & Securities, is delivering a New Year's address at the Korea Investment & Securities headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 2nd. Photo by Korea Investment & Securities

In his New Year's address, CEO Kim said, "To secure our own differentiation that competitors cannot easily imitate, we must pursue creative change and innovation beyond improving existing business models." He also announced that four overwhelming differentiation strategies will be pursued by 2025.

First, to differentiate the business model, CEO Kim stated that a new perspective beyond the existing framework is necessary. He said, "Uniform services can never satisfy customers," adding, "We must think about and act on how to respond to and lead new changes such as the emergence of AI and virtual assets. Such reflection and response are the seeds of innovation that will create the company's differentiated business structure."

He particularly emphasized globalization as the most certain differentiation strategy to secure overwhelming competitive advantage. He elaborated, "We need to expand our network to stand shoulder to shoulder with global IBs in advanced financial markets such as the US and the UK beyond Asia, and actively discover good products and deals in overseas markets."

Differentiation in risk management and internal control was also mentioned as one of the essential elements for survival and competition. CEO Kim said, "As global business expands, the products handled become more sophisticated, the scope of risks broadens, and their forms become complex," adding, "We must now establish processes that can cover risks latent in wider areas. Please build a ‘360-degree risk management’ process that analyzes and manages risks from all angles to prepare for any situation."

Differentiation in customer management was also presented as one of the core strategies that distinguish Korea Investment & Securities from other companies. He said, "We must keep in mind that providing hyper-personalized financial content and digital-based personalized consulting services to meet the fragmented needs of purchasing customers is also an indispensable area of customer management."

He also mentioned differentiation in the sales organization, stating, "Please be sure to recognize that the performance of the sales organization is not only the result of the sales team but also of the support organization, and accordingly, the compensation of the support organization also changes."

He added, "There may be hundreds or thousands of reasons why something cannot be done?because of procedures, lack of precedent, or differences from existing methods?but the support organization must find the one way that can be done."

Finally, CEO Kim delivered the message, "Make your Mark, leave your footprint." He requested, "Set high goals in your respective positions and leave differentiated achievements based on expertise and creativity."

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