Kakao business gets green light to invest in brokerage

Home > Business > Finance

Kakao business gets green light to invest in brokerage

Published: 05 Feb. 2020, 20:13

Korea’s financial authorities on Wednesday approved Kakao Pay’s request to become the largest shareholder of Baro Investment & Securities, a move that will allow the country’s leading financial tech service platform provider to enter the brokerage business.

The decision came 14 months after Kakao Pay, a unit of Kakao, the country’s leading mobile messenger app, signed an estimated 40 billion-won ($33.5 million) deal to buy a 60 percent stake in the brokerage house, a smaller brokerage firm specializing in corporate finance.

In 2018, Kakao Pay announced a blueprint under which it will offer various investment products such as stocks and funds by taking advantage of KakaoTalk, Korea’s largest messaging app operated by its parent company Kakao.

Yonhap