"Korea Investment & Securities Signs MOU with Kakao Group to Build Digital Asset Ecosystem"

Korea Investment & Securities announced on October 1 that it has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Kakao Group for the joint development and marketing of services related to the issuance and distribution of digital assets.

Under the agreement, Korea Investment & Securities will collaborate with Kakao Group (including Kakao, KakaoBank, and Kakao Pay) to establish a cooperative financial services framework that broadly encompasses the digital asset sector. The scope of the MOU includes: ▲ specifying practical applications for digital assets, ▲ providing financial services such as investment, remittance, and settlement using digital asset services, ▲ building core infrastructure such as electronic wallets for delivering digital asset services, and ▲ collaborating on digital asset custody and linking retail customer services associated with digital assets, among other comprehensive initiatives.

This partnership was pursued to proactively respond to the rapidly evolving digital financial environment, while also seeking to generate synergy by combining Korea Investment & Securities' wealth management expertise with Kakao Group's platform competitiveness. Korea Investment & Securities had previously explored synergy models with KakaoBank regarding digital asset businesses, and with this MOU, plans to actively expand collaboration to other Kakao affiliates.

Seonghwan Kim, CEO of Korea Investment & Securities, stated, "This partnership will serve as a catalyst to explore new possibilities for digital asset-based financial services by combining our financial expertise with Kakao Group’s platform dominance," adding, "We will continue to work closely together to lead changes in the digital asset market and provide customers with even more differentiated financial services."

Hoyoung Yoon, CEO of KakaoBank and co-head of Kakao Group’s Stablecoin Task Force (TF), said, "In addition to linking services related to digital asset issuance and distribution with Korea Investment & Securities, we plan to expand the scope of cooperation to encompass the entire digital asset infrastructure," and added, "By combining the strengths of both companies, we will explore diverse applications for digital assets and develop partnership models that deliver real value to customers."

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