[Global Finance Awards] Mirae Asset Securities stands tall against global peers

Financier of the Year / Mirae Asset Securities

The headquarters of Mirae

Mirae Asset Securities became the first in the Korean financial services and investment management industry to post an operating profit of more than 1 trillion won ($754 million) and over 10 trillion won in owned capital last year.

It was a dream come true moment for Mirae Asset Group Chairman Park Hyun-joo who said the company will “open an era of 1 trillion won in operating profit and 10 trillion won in owned capital” as it acquired Daewoo Securities in 2016.

Having started with a capital of 50 billion won in December 1999, Mirae Asset Securities grew by some 200-fold in about 20 years to vie against global investment banks in capital markets around the world.

Mirae Asset was the first in Korea to sell mutual funds, launch a wrap account, recruit investors for a private equity fund, and begin a stock trading service on smartphones.

Presenting a variety of investment and asset management methods, such as installment fund investment, the company has successfully shifted the paradigm of asset management from savings to investment; from direct investment to indirect investment; and from product to asset allocation.

Starting with Hong Kong in 2003, the company entered advanced markets including the US, as well as emerging markets such as China, Vietnam and Brazil.

With a vast overseas network of 10 corporations and three offices in 10 regions around the world, Mirae Asset Securities is leading a stable and balanced global business through a specialized regional strategy.

The company also became the first in the local securities industry to manage over 25 trillion won in pension assets this year.

In addition to its pension asset management service based on a customer-oriented retirement pension system and a wide range of financial products, Mirae Asset provides customers with consultation on the national pension system, taxes and asset management.

This year, the company focused on digital innovation.

Three Mirae Asset apps with different functions were integrated into a new MTS (M-STOCK) in June to offer a customer-oriented MTS for enhanced customer experience.

Customers can also view their assets by domestic stocks, overseas stocks, mutual funds, etc. on “Customer 350 View” which offers an analysis of their investment portfolio.

Thanks to such efforts, Mirae Asset Securities posted an operating profit of over 600 million won in the first half of this year despite unfavorable external conditions.

The company’s owned capital also increased to 10.99 trillion won as of September.

Recording the industry’s highest net capital ratio of 2,219 percent, which is 2.5 times the industry average of 875 percent, as of September, Mirae Asset Securities has achieved high financial stability and solvency, which make it strong in risk management.

Among Mirae Asset’s strengths are the quarterly dividend income from investment assets of over 8 trillion won; its overseas sales network which is helping generate profit; and its increasing profit from foreign securities brokerage, according to Jeon Bae-seung, an analyst at EBEST Investment and Securities.

“Investment banking profits are expected to be stagnant next year, but (the company) will be able to improve earnings through profits from portfolio management,” he said.

In 2018, Mirae Asset established a system for sustainable social contribution, and has spread a culture of sharing through donations, staff participation in various activities for the community and providing educational contents and services for the financially disadvantaged and less informed.

The company and its staff raised funds to help those who suffered damages due to a forest fire in Gangwon and North Gyeongsang provinces in March and flooding due to heavy torrential rain in August in the central region.

In July, Mirae Asset Securities exhibited artwork by artists with developmental disorders at its headquarters in Seoul, and made donations to support their career as artists.

As for environmental campaigns, the company led plogging, or jogging combined with picking up litter, 10 times in Euljiro and Yeouido in Seoul since April, and in September, its executives and new recruits took part in plogging around Cheonggye Stream, Deoksu Palace and Insa-dong.

Mirae Asset staff also regularly take part in volunteer work to plant trees each season at the Hangang Riverside Park.

By Kim So-hyun(sophie@heraldcorp.com)