KIS Aims at Top Five Ranking Among IBs in Asia

Bank continues to explore the "Global Silk Road" with its four-hub approach

Korea Investment and Securities Co. (KIS) posted a net profit of 71.2 billion won in the first quarter (April-June) this year, up 370.9 percent YoY, with an operating profit of 90.9 billion won, up 809.6 percent YoY, the company said recently.
The outstanding performance records are owed to the company's investment banking, asset management, brokerage, and portfolio investment, a diversified profit structure that the company pursued, not just relying on the usual profit sources such as fees and brokerage, industry sources said.
President Ryu Sang-ho, from the time he assumed control of the company as CEO, has focused on the exploration of the "Global Silk Road," building the company's global business network linking Indochina ― with Vietnam as the center of its operation, and Greater China ― with Hong Kong and China taking up part, as the company's four great hubs for its financial operation.
By taking advantage of the four major financial hubs, Ryu wanted to make the company one of the top five investment banks in Asia by 2015. While some doubt he will be able to pull it off, the CEO is known to say, "James Bond has been known for making the impossible possible all the time."
Ryu, a graduate of Yonsei University in Seoul, earned a master's degree at Ohio State University and joined Daewoo Securities in 1988. His stint at the securities firm included vice present of the company's London subsidiary, where he received lessons on international finance at the City, one of the major hubs of international finance, before becoming the youngest CEO of a securities firm in Korea in 2007 when he was named to his current position.
President Ryu is proud of the company's successful management of the 2010 IPO for Samsung Life Insurance Co. totaling 1.25 trillion won, the largest ever held in Korea, among the 15 total IPOs it handled, making it number one among securities firms in Korea in terms of IPOs.
The securities firm's "I'm You" asset management service has also successfully taken firm root in the company's operation, with total sales rising to 100 billion won in the first 20 days of the fund's launch and 400 billion won in the first two months. The fund's net profit came to 7.8 percent as of March 2, the first year anniversary of its launch.
The company has done well in the area of commodity development with its Korea Investment Securities Global Opportunity Fund making a successful debut as a hedge fund last year, the first such fund managed by the company. The company spun off its product development unit last year to enhance its product development capability.
The company has done well in its overseas operations last year under its ambitious plan to be counted among the top five investment and securities firms in Asia by 2015. Under the plan, the company has been operating in such countries as Vietnam, a hub of Indochina; China and Hong Kong, a Greater China hub; and a Russian hub to enter Central Europe and CIS countries ― four major hubs for the company's global operation providing financial consulting and M&A intermediary services.
In November 2010, the company launched an investment consultancy firm in Beijing to secure a base for investment banking operations, QDII and other businesses in China, and in December, the company set up KIS Vietnam, a joint venture securities firm in Vietnam.
CEO Ryu used to say his management philosophy is about making everyone happy, management for pre-circulation and kinship, meaning he favors a kind of management that gives top treatment to top talented personnel so that they will produce top results and make the company a place where people are anxious to come to work and leave it each day with a light heart.
KIS was re-formed in June 2005 when the company was merged with Dongwon Securities. The previously named Korea Investment & Securities Co., Ltd. (KITC) was Korea's leading distributor of investment trust products, mainly those of its wholly owned subsidiary, while Dongwon Securities was one of Korea's main securities brokerages. Both of these companies previously played important roles in the development of the Korean capital market and the Korean economy. nw

President Ryu Sang-ho of Korea Investment & Securities Co.(TrueFriend)

Photo on Courtesy of KIS