Practical MZ Generation
Accounts for 35% of All Investors
Prefers Curated Information Over Quantity
NH Investment: User-Centered Home Screen
Shinhan Investment: First AI Personalized Consultation
KB Securities: New MTS Ready This Month
Kiwoom Securities Also to Revamp in Second Half
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] The securities industry is in the midst of revamping its Mobile Trading Systems (MTS). Securities firms are focusing on providing services tailored to the preferences of the MZ generation (born between the 1980s and early 2000s), who have rapidly emerged as key customers amid last year's stock market boom, emphasizing customization, simplicity, and convenience.
According to the securities industry on the 10th, NH Investment & Securities revamped the MTS home screen with a user-centric approach the day before. Through the three-tiered home service segmented into △Trading △Products & Solutions △My Assets on the Namu (NAMUH)/QV app, users can focus on trading with the ‘Trading Home,’ explore trending products and essential investment stories with the ‘Products & Solutions Home,’ or check their assets with the ‘My Assets Home’ feature, enhancing user convenience. For the first time in the industry, they also introduced the latest UI/UX (User Interface/User Experience) switcher function, allowing users to easily and quickly check recently visited pages.
Shinhan Financial Investment also launched a new MTS, Shinhan Alpha, in April. It introduced the industry's first AI-based personalized customer consultation service, focusing on easy information provision.
KB Securities plans to unveil a new MTS on the 15th of this month in collaboration with Project Vanilla. The goal is to provide services that satisfy both novice and existing stock investors. In the second half of the year, Kiwoom Securities, which holds the number one market share in the individual stock market, will launch its next-generation MTS service. A Kiwoom Securities official stated, "Our goal is to provide total services for domestic and international products through a single app and offer differentiated UI/UX through an independent platform."
The securities firms’ moves to revamp MTS are due to the rapid rise of the MZ generation as major customers. According to the Korea Securities Depository, the number of MZ generation investors reached 3.157 million at the end of last year, nearly doubling from 1.553 million the previous year. The MZ generation's share among all stock investors also increased by 9.3 percentage points to 34.5%. Although those aged 40 and above still account for more than half (about 5.37 million), their proportion is gradually decreasing. During this period, the MZ generation's investment amount surged 98.2%, from 34.2 trillion won to 67.8 trillion won. This growth rate is steeper than the 54.5% increase in investment amount among those aged 40 and above, which rose from 384.4 trillion won to 593.9 trillion won.
The MZ generation is characterized by a preference for practicality. They favor products and services selected and proposed according to their tastes rather than complexity. Also, having been born during a period of rapid technological advancement, they are accustomed to change and speed. This is why securities firms are focusing on simplicity, convenience, and customization in their upcoming MTS service revamps.
An industry insider said, "The MZ generation prefers well-organized and curated information over large volumes of data and uses mobile devices as their primary means of gathering information. Securities firms’ strategies to respond to the investment tendencies of this generation are expected to become a key differentiating factor."
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