Mirae Asset Daewoo to Expand Branch Network

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Mirae Asset Daewoo is increasing its number of branches. While securities firms' branches have been continuously shrinking, Mirae Asset Daewoo is proactively expanding its branches, drawing attention to whether other securities firms will also start increasing their branches in the future.

Lee Sanggeol, Head of WM at Mirae Asset Daewoo, recently stated in an interview with Asia Economy, "We currently have 77 branches and plan to increase by 4 to 5 branches this year."

Until now, Mirae Asset Daewoo has been enlarging its branches, reducing the number from 164 at the end of 2017 to 82 at the end of 2019, and recently down to 77.

The trend of branch reduction is a general situation in the securities industry. Due to the expansion of non-face-to-face customers, securities firms have been consolidating branches, steadily decreasing their numbers. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, the number of domestic branches of securities firms decreased from 1,126 at the end of 2017 to 1,091 at the end of 2018, 1,026 at the end of 2019, and down to 986 as of the third quarter last year, breaking below 1,000.

In this context, Mirae Asset Daewoo's branch expansion is unusual. It appears to be a response to the surge in individual investors due to the stock investment boom since last year. In particular, the number of high-net-worth individuals has significantly increased. Mirae Asset Daewoo's individual customers with assets over 1 billion KRW number 12,000, which is about a 22% increase in less than four months compared to 9,800 at the end of September last year. High-net-worth individuals entrust not only simple stock trading but also overall asset management, so securities firms provide various services such as asset consulting.

Lee said, "To respond to customers, a branch network of about 80 to 100 is necessary," adding, "I think it is acceptable to increase further from the current level."