Korea Investment & Securities Overhauls Its Pension Mobile Trading System (MTS): "We Will Be No. 1 in Pensions Too"

[Financial News] Korea Investment & Securities is overhauling its MTS and accelerating the development of a digital pension platform, with the goal of becoming No. 1 in the retirement pension market. Its strategy is to expand the MTS beyond simply checking and trading pension products, turning it into a "digital PB" that gives customers an at-a-glance view of their pension assets and recommends the management they need. The company also plans to gradually enhance asset analysis and personalized management features powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
Kim Do-hyun, head of Korea Investment & Securities' Individual Customer Group and an executive vice president, expressed his strong commitment to the pension business at a briefing on the company's pension MTS service and pension platform strategy held at TP Tower in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 6th. "It may take some time, but we are preparing with the determination that we must eventually become No. 1 in the pension business," he said.
Korea Investment & Securities currently ranks third among retirement pension providers in the securities industry. This year, the company reorganized its operations and began expanding the business by recruiting a large number of related personnel.
Kim emphasized that Korea Investment & Securities is "a company that sells financial products well and has the largest financial product balances," adding that it would combine its PB capabilities and strong corporate and investment banking (IB) network with its pension business.
Because pension services involve not only individual customers but also companies that operate pension plans, the company envisions building a pension business that connects the PB capabilities serving individual customers with its corporate and IB expertise.
On the digital front, the company has made the MTS a core pillar. Hwang Yun-hee, head of the Digital Pension Division, described a customer-centered approach as the starting point of the overhaul. She said the focus was on making it easy for customers to understand the status of their pensions and manage them directly.
The company's key differentiator is its shift from a "displaying MTS" to a "managing MTS." Hwang explained that customer surveys found many users did not know "what state my pension is currently in" or "what I should do about it." Accordingly, Korea Investment & Securities plans to build a service that identifies the necessary "to-dos" for customers who leave money in their accounts without investing it or need to review their exposure to risk assets, and connects those recommendations to actual action.
AI will also be used to enhance these pension management functions. Korea Investment & Securities is preparing AI analyses of customers' holdings and comparison features based on data from all pension customers. It plans to expand the scope of management in the future to include model portfolios, asset allocation and rebalancing.
The company is also pursuing a plan to provide model portfolios assembled by experts by combining its in-house research and product capabilities with the pension division's asset allocation expertise.
Korea Investment & Securities plans to overcome its status as a latecomer in the pension business by combining its revamped MTS with its existing financial capabilities. Ultimately, it aims to build a comprehensive pension platform that supports customers throughout their life cycles, from contributions through investment management to payouts.
[email protected] Kang Jung-mo Reporter