Woori Financial Group headquarters in Seoul
Woori Financial Group has made its comeback to South Korea’s brokerage service market after a decade with the launch of Woori Investment & Securities Co. on Thursday.
The brokerage arm combined online fund sales platform Korea Foss Securities Co. and Woori Investment Bank, the country’s last merchant bank dealing primarily in commercial loans and real estate project financing.
Woori Financial acquired a majority stake in Korea Foss Securities in May of this year.
The country’s No. 4 financial services group branded the merged entity as Woori Investment & Securities. It is the namesake of its former brokerage arm it sold in 2014 to Nonghyup Financial Group, rebranded as NH Investment & Securities, to ease liquidity problems.
With an equity capital of 1.1 trillion won ($804 million), the newly-launched brokerage company is now the 18th largest player in the domestic sector.
Woori aims to grow it into one of the country’s top 10 investment banks within the next five years.
It had been the only financial services firm among financial majors in South Korea without a brokerage service unit in the last 10 years.
Woori Investment Bank CEO Nam Ki-Cheon (Courtesy of Yonhap)
Nam Ki-Cheon, chief executive of Woori Investment Bank, will lead the new brokerage firm as CEO.
Its operations will be comprised mainly of general financial services; sales and trading; retail services: and risk management.
An official from Woori Investment & Securities said it will differentiate itself from peers by creating synergy with its affiliated companies under Woori Financial Group and reinforcing digital service platforms to expand investment banking business and offer various financial products.
It is also gearing up for venture capital and private banking services.
In the second quarter ended in June, Woori Financial Group posted its highest-ever net profit of 931.4 billion won, up 49% from 625.2 billion won a year earlier.
By Tae-Ung Bae
btu104@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article