"Back to Basics"

Korea Investment and Securities holds branch managers meeting, calling for strengthening core biz capacities

Korea Investment and Securities Co. held branch managers meeting March 28-29 to discuss management strategies for this year in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province.
At the meeting presided over by CEO Ryu Sang-ho, all of the company's branch managers and deputy managers, totaling over 200, agreed to work hard for the company's new jump and advancement.
Ryu said the meeting's theme is "back to basics," calling for strengthening the core business capacities of the company with every employee of the company doing its best, a maximization of synergy and making operation risks zero -- the three major strategies of the company this year.
The CEO said the strategies include the maximization of traditional business areas in the securities sector centered around fee income, the expansion of financial products and upgrading service capacities of integrated asset management.
For boosts in synergy, a system should be created to bring closer cooperation between marketing and support units and an effective distribution of resources among company units, Ryu said.
In the meantime, Korea Investment and Securities Co. signed an MOU with the Indonesia Bond Pricing Agency for advisory service. CEO Ryu and his counterpart, President Ignatius Girendroheru, signed the instrument for their respective companies on March 22 at KISC's head office in Seoul.
The development was brought about by the Indonesian Stock Exchange asking KISC to provide training to its Indonesian staff to strengthen their research capacity, analyses on companies being evaluated and advice on management and management strategies, among others. The Indonesian side would like to learn Korea's know-how on capital market operations.
Indonesia's IBPA, set up in the early part of this year and almost ready to open for business, is owned by the Stock Exchange in Indonesia, the Indonesia Securities Depository and the Indonesia Settlement Institute and is 100 percent state run.
Director Lee Do-hyun said KISC has secured a good opportunity to enter the bond market in the Southeast Asian country with the MOU and its related activities as a base.
KISC has been expanding its presence in Indonesia in recent years through a number of business tie-ups signed with Indonesian firms including an MOU on a joint-venture in the securities business with East-West Colibindo Securities and an MOU with Wanatirta Edhie Wibowo for a $32 million investment in forestry development projects. The Indonesian company owns the forestry development rights in Indonesia.
KISC is an affiliate of the Korea Investment Holding Co., which was launched in 2003 with a number of financial subsidiaries and President Kim Nam-goo as the majority shareholder with 20.94 percent. Its major subsidiaries include Korea Investment Mutual Savings Bank Co., Korea Investment Partners Co. and Cornerstone Equity Partners Co.
KISC has its own subsidiaries at home and overseas including Korea Investment Trust Management Co., Korea Investment & Securities Europe Ltd., and Korea Investment & Securities in America, Inc.
KIH was first established as Dongwon Financial Holdings in January 2003 and changed to the present name in 2005. In March 2005, the company took over KISC, a securities firm that was Korea's leading provider of asset management services. With the acquisition, KIH has been able to develop a new profit model based on the combination of investment banking and asset management and to focus resources for achieving economies of scale.
At the same time, synergies have been created among the securities brokerage and corporate finance and asset management businesses. In order to widen its range of financial services, KIH also established Korea Investment Value Asset Management Co., a company specializing in long-term and value investment, in February 2006; it established Cornerstone Equity Partners, a manager of private equity funds (PEFs), in March 2006; and launched the K-Atlas Fund, a Singapore-domiciled alternative investment fund and Korea's first absolute-return hedge fund in February 2008.
Supported by its subsidiaries, KIH is able to develop diverse financial products to meet the increasing sophisticated needs of its clients and offer differentiated Financial services that enhance customer satisfaction. In the longer-term, KIH seeks to develop as a leading investment bank in Asia through organic and inorganic growth that will enable it to match the full range of financial services offered by the world's leading investment banks. nw

CEO Ryu Sang-ho, right, shakes hands with President Ignatius Girendroheru of Indonesia Bond Pricing Agency after signing an MOU for advisory service at KISC's head office in Seoul March 22.

President & CEO Ryu Sang-ho of the Korea Investment and Securities Co.