[New Year's Message] Lee Sun-ho, President of Korea Securities Depository, "This Year's Management Goal: Strengthening Core Financial Infrastructure Competitiveness"

Lee Sun-ho, President of the Korea Securities Depository, stated on the 2nd, "This year's management goal has been set as creating customer value through strengthening core financial infrastructure competitiveness."

In his New Year's address, President Lee said, "Amid rising economic uncertainties and the emergence of innovative financial products, our business faces significant challenges. This year is the time to take concrete steps toward becoming a century-old company."

He emphasized focusing on building the next-generation system to enhance financial infrastructure competitiveness. President Lee explained, "IT systems have become a core corporate resource, evolving beyond simple operational tools to strategic assets that enable business innovation. In this trend, establishing a digital financial foundation that combines stability and scalability is an essential task for sustainable growth. We will concentrate all company resources and capabilities to build a stable and flexible next-generation system, thereby laying a solid foundation for future growth."

He also announced the goal of continuously responding to government policies and market demands to lead the development of the financial market. President Lee said, "To activate the integrated government bond account introduced last year, we will actively support legal, institutional, and system improvements, and smoothly carry out early redemption services for government bonds for individual investors to create a stable government bond investment environment."

In addition, he conveyed his intention to flawlessly carry out this year's key tasks such as the phased unification of the electronic securities system, enhancing payment system efficiency, and advancing the securities information management system to lead the development of the financial market.

He also pledged not to neglect efforts to strengthen digital capabilities and secure global competitiveness in line with changes in the financial market environment. He said, "Within this year, we will establish a business-IT convergence organization overseeing the company's digital transformation strategy to internalize digital capabilities and strengthen the in-house technological capabilities of global services to respond to changes in global financial technology."

Furthermore, to prepare for the next 50 years, he plans to build foundational resilience to respond to crises and focus on nurturing experts in key tasks. Along with this, the company will conduct a comprehensive review of risk management status and optimize the internal control management system to strengthen organizational stability.

Emphasizing that this year must be a turning point for the next 50 years, he urged communication and consideration among members, saying, "A respectful and considerate attitude among organizational members creates a warm and positive organizational culture. Through this, an organization united by trust can easily overcome any difficulties."