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| Toss Securities' mobile trading service as viewed on a smartphone / Courtesy of Toss |
By Lee Min-hyung
Toss Securities and Kakaopay Securities displayed contrasting earnings reports in the first half due to Toss' robust growth in overseas stock trading commission revenues.
The Toss affiliate proved resilience with surprising sales growth of 91.4 percent between January and June from a year earlier. The firm's sales reached 96.46 billion won ($71.78 million), while that of Kakaopay Securities increased 24 percent to 37.86 billion won during the same period.
Even if both firms have still reported an operating loss, Toss Securities came closer to making a much-awaited turnaround. The firm's operating loss reduced to 3.98 billion won from 16.86 billion won a year earlier. But Kakaopay Securities reported a greater operating loss of 25.47 billion won in the first half, up 8.8 percent from the previous year.
This raised hopes for Toss Securities to achieve a major turnaround in 2023 if the company continues to generate decent earnings from the overseas trading commission. The company attained 33.75 billion won in revenue, up more than double from a year earlier.
After launching its mobile trading system (MTS) in February 2021, the fintech startup has focused on attracting more investors seeking overseas stock trading. The strategy reaped fruit, with its share in the overseas stock brokerage market achieving faster-than-expected growth in the past year. Its share was hovering at less than 5 percent early last year, but the figure soared to more than 20 percent in March 2023, just a year after the launch of the service.
But this was not the case for Kakaopay Securities. The Kakao affiliate chalked up the overseas stock brokerage revenue of 2.12 billion won in the first half, up from 240,000 won last year. Kakaopay Securities is considered a latecomer in the market, launching its MTS in April 2022.
Even if the stock market's transaction volume is reviving, it appears tough for Kakaopay Securities to outperform Toss Securities in a short period of time due to the market share gap.
As of May this year, Toss Securities' MTS subscribers reached 5 million. Kakaopay Securities did not share its specific number. The industry estimates Kakaopay Securities' overseas stock brokerage market share to stay at a single-digit level.
"It will take more time for Kakaopay Securities to normalize its profitability, as the company remains aggressive in attracting customers by spending more promotional and other operational costs," an industry source said.
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