KakaoPay Acquires Brokerage
KakaoPay, a quick payment service provider, announced on October 1 that it would acquire Baro Investment & Securities.
Founded in 2008, Baro Investment & Securities is a small and medium-sized brokerage firm specializing in corporate finance, with 57.3 billion won (US$ 47.7 million) in sales and 7.3 billion won (US$ 6 million) in operating profits last year. It provides various financial products and brokerage and financial advisory services, according to KakaoPay.
Through this acquisition, KakaoPay plans to enable its users to trade various investment products, including stocks, funds and real estate, within the platform KakaoTalk.
In particular, the company expects to provide a financial platform for investors with small assets such as senior citizens and college students to invest in small-scale financial products and manage assets.
KakaoPay plans to increase its alliance with other financial institutions incluidng banks, credit card companies and securities firms, and to promote non-face-to-face asset management services.
"KakaoPay is taking its first step toward becoming a full-fledged financial business," said Ryu Young-joon, CEO of KakaoPay. "We will expand our services by strengthening partnership with various companies so that users can enjoy differentiated financial life."