Digital Innovation at NH Investment & Securities: "Metaverse Service Launching in October"

NH Investment & Securities operates the first brand digital platform among securities firms that can continuously provide new customer experiences.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] “Capture the new investment generation, the MZ generation.” NH Investment & Securities is accelerating digital innovation by adopting digital and metaverse platforms. This is to provide new experiences to the rapidly emerging new investment generation, the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), and to make finance easy and fun for them to access. To this end, in October, as part of a gamification service, they plan to open the ‘NH Investment & Securities Metaverse (tentative name).’ This will be the first proprietary metaverse service established in the securities industry. Earlier, on the 23rd of last month, they opened an online digital platform under the brand ‘Investing (街) Culture Road (路),’ conceptualized as an ‘investment playground’ for MZ generation customers with no prior investment experience. This is also the first brand digital platform in the securities industry.

According to NH Investment & Securities on the 10th, the service name is ‘NH Investment & Securities Metaverse (tentative name),’ which will provide metaverse services through a dedicated app. They plan to implement spaces such as the exterior and interior of the NH Investment & Securities building and areas where users can participate in games, expected to attract the interest and curiosity of the MZ generation.

An NH Investment & Securities official explained, “The main generation in the stock market is shifting to the MZ generation, and the way we meet customers and the criteria customers use to select financial services are also changing,” adding, “We will provide various digital platform services so that customers can access investment easily and enjoyably.”

In fact, 52% of the customers recently joining NH Investment & Securities’ MTS mobile securities app ‘NAMUH’ are in their 20s and 30s, and among them, 71% are investment beginners with less than one year of experience. An NH Investment & Securities official said, “They mainly experience difficulties in the information acquisition stage, and through the metaverse platform, we plan to offer corporate analysis seminars, investment conferences, and investment consultations.”

NH Investment & Securities operates the first brand digital platform among securities firms that can continuously provide new customer experiences.

The digital platform ‘Investing Culture Road’ launched last month serves as NH Investment & Securities’ branding space in the digital realm, created to provide new customer experiences without spatial and temporal constraints amid the spread of non-face-to-face culture. The brand name uses the characters 가(街) and 로(路), meaning ‘street’ and ‘road,’ symbolizing space, and is designed to allow indirect experience of the brand vision through investment.

Within two weeks of opening, the platform’s user count surpassed approximately 350,000, and cumulative page views exceeded 700,000, gaining great popularity. About 95% of platform users visited via mobile, indicating that mobile-savvy MZ generation users mainly utilized the platform.

‘Investing Culture Road’ is characterized by various experiential programs and content designed to lower the vague difficulties and psychological hurdles the rapidly emerging MZ generation feels about investing and to increase accessibility to investment.

The brand platform consists of △Super Stock Market △Solution Center △Game Land △Culture Salon △NH Showroom. Looking at the detailed content, the Super Stock Market allows virtual shopping of domestic and international stocks with a virtual shopping fund of 100 million KRW. The Super Stock Market is a simulated investment experience space where the MZ generation can directly experience brand value. It was also operated in the first half of this year at The Hyundai Seoul, a hot place in Yeouido, receiving positive responses from about 30,000 customers. Online, it has become the most popular corner, accounting for most of the page views on the ‘Investing Culture Road’ platform.

At the Solution Center, users can check their investment type and expert advice based on an investment tendency MBTI diagnosis, and an untact consultation corner is provided for phone or video consultations. Game Land offers a game where users can raise their investment level through a simple investment ability test within Investing Culture Road. Additionally, various video contents that lay the foundation for investment basics are provided.

Meanwhile, NH Investment & Securities is expanding its brand vision through the ‘Investing Culture Road’ brand platform. In May 2019, on its 50th anniversary, it unveiled a new brand slogan, ‘Investment becomes culture.’ This was a declaration of intent to lead the paradigm shift in the securities industry and to become a company that prioritizes customers’ values. Just as good music makes our ears happy and good food makes our bodies healthy, future ‘investment’ should enrich our lives and become a familiar and easily accessible cultural act.

An NH Investment & Securities official emphasized, “To actively share the new brand vision with customers, we are attempting unique marketing by combining investment with food culture and arts through seasonal restaurants, wine classes, cultural cafes, and art seminars,” adding, “‘Investment becomes culture’ embodies NH Investment & Securities’ brand expansion will to make investment not just a concept of profit but something that enriches life like culture.”