US Valentine's Day, 'Taegukgi' Displayed on NYSE Exterior... Challenge of Korean Fintech

[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] On February 14th, Valentine's Day (local time), the Taegeukgi flag was displayed on the exterior wall of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wall Street, USA. This was because NEOS, an asset management company established locally by the Korean fintech company Wave Ridge, was the main participant in the 'Closing Bell' event that day.

At the Closing Bell event, CEO Oh Jong-wook of Wave Ridge said, "I am deeply moved that a fintech startup that started in Korea can enter the US market, list new products, and discover business opportunities," adding, "We will work harder to expand our global business." He expressed his ambition to target the global market through an evolved asset management business via NEOS.

Since establishing the local asset management company NEOS in March last year, Wave Ridge has successfully listed three option income-based ETFs (CSHI, BNDI, SPYI) on the US stock market. This is the first time a Korean financial company has directly established a joint asset management company in the US and launched ETF products, rather than acquiring a company.

CEO Oh said, "We listed three ETFs on the New York and Chicago stock exchanges on August 31 last year, and the current assets under management (AUM) are about 30 billion KRW," adding, "Although not very large, we expect to achieve over 100 billion KRW this year starting from this." NEOS ETF products feature an income strategy that pays stable monthly distributions while avoiding major risks such as sharp index declines. The company stated that NEOS is showing rapid growth in scale and speed among Korean fintech companies that have introduced ETFs to the US market, with AUM increasing by as much as 190% compared to December last year.

CEO Oh predicted, "Fund businesses including new digital assets can achieve growth exceeding trillions of KRW in the US." He said they plan to develop new products based on virtual assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum in the US market this year, explaining, "We will reduce the risks of highly volatile virtual assets and enable customers to invest safely with new alternative products."

He emphasized, "NEOS's strength lies in leading the market with US asset management know-how combined with Wave Ridge's blockchain and quant capabilities," and stated that in a few years, they will create growth potential to directly list Wave Ridge overseas.