[Smart Finance Awards] Evolving MTS Through Continuous Technological Innovation

'2024 Asia Smart Finance Awards'
'MTS Award' Toss Securities
'MTS Innovation Award' Kiwoom Securities
Continuous Innovation and Application of New Technologies

The 14th annual Asia Economy ‘2024 Asia Smart Finance Awards’ was established to distinguish the best mobile trading systems (MTS) in Korea and help them evolve into more advanced services. As technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) advance, securities firms are focusing on improving their MTS, resulting in continuous evolution and fierce competition among these platforms.

Asia Economy collaborated with the ‘ESG Metaverse Development Institute,’ a domestic organization specializing in website and mobile app evaluation and certification, to identify the top MTS in Korea. The ESG Metaverse Development Institute conducted a detailed evaluation using its patented SM (Smart Mobile)-ABCDE app evaluation model across five categories: Customer-Friendliness (A), Business (B), Content (C), Design (D), and Technical Excellence (E). In the Customer-Friendliness category, the focus was on whether communication features enabling interaction with customers were well implemented. The Business category evaluated the diversity of stock and product-related functions offered by the MTS and whether it included features enhancing convenience. The Content category assessed the provision of various information for securities trading, big data, and social analysis services. The Design category focused on the consistency of the overall layout and the logical structure of information. The Technical Excellence category emphasized the variety of security-related services and the availability of functions utilizing new technologies. The award-winning companies were selected based on the first-round evaluation data from the ESG Metaverse Development Institute, with judges providing their opinions accordingly.

The Financial Services Commission Chairman’s Award, the ‘MTS Grand Prize,’ was awarded to Toss Securities. Moon Hyung-nam, Dean of the College of Global Convergence at Sookmyung Women’s University and Director of the ESG Metaverse Development Institute, who served as the head judge, commented, "Toss Securities has innovated securities services by providing a platform that allows even users with no prior stock investment experience to easily invest in domestic and international stocks. It offers access to Toss Securities services without requiring a separate app installation, as long as users have the Toss app, along with various information and services." Toss Securities launched its customer service in March 2021 and attracted 1 million customers within a month. Over three and a half years, it has grown rapidly to over 6.3 million customers, with monthly active users (MAU) exceeding 3.3 million, reflecting a steep increase in its customer base.

Kiwoom Securities earned second place in the overall evaluation and received the ‘MTS Innovation Award’ from the Financial Supervisory Service Chairman. Judge Moon stated, "Kiwoom Securities, holding the top market share in the domestic stock market for 19 consecutive years, continuously provides investors with innovative investment experiences by integrating AI and the latest mobile technologies into its dominant trading platform." He added, "Kiwoom Securities’ MTS, Hero Moon S#, integrates domestic and overseas stock services into a single app and has been revamped to enable one-stop processing from account opening to financial product trading and AI asset management, enhancing convenience and user experience for individual investors." Kiwoom Securities is also leading innovation in future financial services by enabling trading of music copyrights and fractional art investment products through securities accounts.

In the Customer-Friendliness category, NH Investment & Securities and Samsung Securities were joint winners; in the Business category, Daishin Securities and Shinhan Investment Corp. shared the award; in the Content category, KB Securities and Hana Securities were co-recipients; Mirae Asset Securities won in the Design category; and Korea Investment & Securities was honored in the Technical Excellence category.

Judge Moon concluded, "As MTS rapidly evolve by applying advanced technologies such as AI and big data, the gap between securities firms’ platforms is narrowing due to their appropriate responses. Notably, securities firms strong in online services stood out in this evaluation, with Toss Securities and Kiwoom Securities taking first and second place overall." He emphasized, "Since customers can switch to securities firms offering better services through well-developed MTS, securities firms must continuously innovate and apply new technologies to provide stable and differentiated services, thereby advancing their MTS."