The team at Mirae Asset Securities has long been a forward thinker. That skill came in particularly handy during the past year, when a high interest rate environment and global geopolitical uncertainties proved disruptive.
Mirae Asset was prepared. One of its moves was to accelerate its global expansion to secure new growth drivers and diversify its revenue stream. To that end, it announced its acquisition in December 2023 of Indian brokerage firm Sharekhan, buying BNP Paribas’s stake in the group for about $360 million. Before that, in May 2023, it completed its purchase of UK-based GHCO, a market maker for exchange-traded funds.
It also accelerated its investment in artificial intelligence to fully embrace the developments it offers. In July 2023, Mirae Asset set up a headquarter-level organisation to oversee company-wide AI initiatives, and held numerous internal training programmes to get employees up to speed on the latest in AI.
This led to the May 2024 launch of an AI-based overseas stock asset allocation platform called Wealth Tech. In addition, Mirae Asset is using generative AI to provide personalized investment advice and news to clients, has unveiled digital private banking customer relationship solutions, and is leveraging generative AI to publish corporate analysis reports.
Its investment banking franchise is also solid. Mirae Asset worked on 15 ECM deals during Euromoney’s awards period, 135 bond deals and a handful of complex M&A advisory roles.
Its IPO client roster included firms from the robotics and batteries sectors, with Mirae Asset also boosting its focus on IPOs of small and medium-sized companies in Korea, seeing their future potential.
Thanks to this holistic and forward-thinking approach, Mirae Asset recorded net operating revenues of W555.3 billion ($420 million) for the second quarter of 2024, up 51% year on year, and posted a 102% surge in operating profits to W265.2 billion. An impressive franchise.