Good morning. Thank you very much for joining the earnings conference call of Mirae Asset Securities. We will start with a presentation by the company, followed by a Q&A session. If you have a question, please press star one on your phone. Now we will start the earnings presentation of Mirae Asset Securities for 2025 full year and Q4.
Yes, good morning. I am Dong Ho Shin, Head of the ESG and IR team at Mirae Asset Securities. Thank you very much for participating at our 2025 annual earnings call for Mirae Asset Securities. Joining us today are our CEO, Mi Seob Kim of Mirae Asset Securities, and Kang-hyuk Lee, Head of Business Innovation. Please be advised that simultaneous interpretation into English is being provided for our international investors. Today's conference call will proceed in the following order.
We will start with a presentation on Mirae Asset Securities' key strategies and business priorities for 2026, a review of 2025 performance results by business, followed by Q&A. The presentation materials for the 2025 annual earnings are available on our company's corporate website at ci.securities.miraeasset.com under the Regular Reports menu. A recording and transcript of today's call will also be posted on our corporate website. Please note that today's presentation contains forward-looking statements based on information available as of the time of preparation. Actual business results may differ due to changes in business environment or strategy. Now we will begin with remarks from our CEO. Please refer to page two of the presentation materials.
Yes, greetings. This is Mi Seob Kim, CEO of Mirae Asset Securities. I would like to thank you very much for attending Mirae Asset Securities' 2025 earnings call despite your busy schedule. May I briefly take you through our performance for 2025.
In 2025, we achieved record high performance with consolidated pre-tax income of KRW 2,080 billion and net income of KRW 1,593.6 billion, up 70% and 72% respectively year-over-year. As of the end of 2025, shareholders' equity totaled KRW 13.5 trillion on a consolidated basis, up approximately KRW 1,220 billion year-on-year, with ROE coming in at 12.4%, representing meaningful improvement in our capital efficiency.
This is a result of generation of solid earnings across all of our business lines, including wealth management, pension, prop trading overseas, et cetera, without any overdue reliance on any single segment alone. Next, we will move on to our key strategic priorities for 2026. In 2026, we intend to pursue the following four priorities. First is to strengthen sustainable earning structure.
Second is to expand investments in innovative companies and provide more venture capital. Third is to lead innovation across both traditional and digital assets. Fourth, to enhance customer-centered management as well as protection and data security. Now, allow me to elaborate more on our first priority of enhancing stable earnings structure, which has been proven through performance.
In 2023, we delivered stable earnings across wealth management, pension, brokerage, trading, and overseas business, achieving the highest record revenue and performance for full year 2025. Our client assets, centered around wealth management and pension, has been a key driver, with our client assets growing to KRW 600 trillion, and our goal is to expand this further 17% year-on-year to KRW 700 trillion or more in 2026. On the trading IB and PI front, strengthening the stability of our earnings is the number one priority initiative.
For trading in particular, we intend to maintain a solid earnings contribution of 30% out of total earnings based on a solid revenue stream based on flow trading. Performance from overseas subsidiaries contributed to roughly 24% of total pre-tax income last year as we delivered our 2030 target of KRW 500 billion pre-tax income earlier than planned. Second, we will continue to increase the overseas contribution to our total earnings mix to develop it into a key driver of ROE growth. We will strengthen our role as a global investment specialist by extending our investments into innovative growth companies and providing more venture capital. We have acquired differentiated investment capabilities, making direct investments into many global unicorns in and outside of Korea.
In 2026, we will continue to make investments into innovative growth sectors, including AI, aerospace, not only in Korea, but China, India, and the U.S. as well. In particular, funds secured through investment assets will be reinvested into new drivers of future growth as we build an investment portfolio that is balanced across stability and growth in the long term based on a virtuous cycle.
As the financial industry overall faces a transition toward productive finance, we are committed to fulfilling our due role in the capital market, leveraging our capabilities in providing venture capital, both through corporate financing as well as solid risk management to support growth of innovative businesses and contribute to enhancing market trust. Our third strategy is to lead innovation across global finance, across both traditional and digital assets to secure competitiveness for Mirae Asset 3.0.
The global financial industry is entering a phase of structural transition with traditional assets converging with digital assets. We have been moving preemptively at the forefront, positioning MTS as a key customer touch point as we enhance the competitiveness of our digital platform, where asset management transactions and information assets are seamlessly integrated. We will actively recruit outstanding IT and AI talent from the global market, establish an overseas IT center as well to deeply embed AI in asset management and risk management as well. This will represent the strongest source of competitiveness for Mirae Asset Securities going forward.
Finally, on our fourth strategy of reinforcing protection of financial consumers and customer data management. Amid widening volatility across both domestic and global financial markets, we place the greatest value in customer protection as a responsible financial company.
We have elevated our financial consumer protection organization as a division, while investing more in terms of budget and headcount to strengthen our company-wide response. Across the entire process, from product development and sales to after-sales management, we have been internalizing customer-centric internal controls and risk management with strict protection of client assets and trust. While we strengthen our capabilities in protecting our client assets, we have been making strategic investments in digital transition and AI investment as well.
Last year, we received consulting on our data protection strategy, establishing a next generation security roadmap, whereby we increased our information protection budget by 26% YoY in 2026. We will go beyond simple expansion of infrastructure as we strengthen our fundamental competence in preemptive management against security risks to better safeguard customer trust and shareholder value. With that, this concludes my presentation. I will now pass to our CFO, Mr. Kang-h yuk Lee, to take us through our 2025 results from the respective business segments.
Good morning. This is Kang -hyuk Lee, CFO and Head of Business Innovation. First, a look at our key highlights of 2025, which starts on page three of the presentation. In 2025, brokerage, WM, trading, and financial income all set new record performance. Our overseas subsidiaries also recorded record performance in both developed and emerging markets and delivered highest performance since start of our overseas business. In 2025, PI investment assets recorded fair value surplus for four consecutive quarters, realizing a total valuation gain of KRW 645 billion full year 2025. Page four is a financial summary provided for your reference.
A comment that I would like to offer regarding the Mirae Asset Securities profit structure is that in the case of securities business, the way investment asset gains are reflected to the business results is different from, for example, a manufacturing business, in that equity method gains or some investment asset related gains or losses are classified as non-operating in accounting terms, but are in substance ordinary gains obtained through our core capabilities.
Accordingly, rather than relying on only operating income, also looking at pre-tax income and net income will be a more accurate way of understanding actual fundamentals of the company. This is particularly so for Mirae Asset, which has a higher share of global business and investment assets and consolidated basis profits we believe are a more appropriate measure than separate numbers. Next is a look at each division starting from the brokerage on page five.
Brokerage revenue was KRW 1,011 billion, which is a 43% increase YoY and a new record high. 2025 domestic stock trading volume was KRW 26.2 trillion, which is a 37% increase YoY, with particularly strong growth seen since the opening of the Nextrade market. Overseas stock was also strong around AI and semiconductor sectors, overall brokerage performance improved significantly YoY. Domestic brokerage revenue was KRW 567.6 billion, which is a 35% increase YoY. Overseas was KRW 443.4 billion, which is a 57% YoY increase. Domestic average commission rate was 2.9 BP, which is a 0.02 BP fall from last year. Overseas commission rate was 11.5 BP, which is a 1.2 BP increase from last year. Overseas brokerage balance exceeded KRW 50 trillion for the first time, total brokerage balance was KRW 306.9 trillion, which is a 42% increase YoY.
Margin loan net revenue, which is reflected as interest income, was KRW 315.3 billion, which is a 28% increase. Next is a look at WM performance on page six. In 2025, WM revenue was KRW 342.1 billion, which is a 21% increase year-over-year. In particular, wrap accounts, mutual funds, and retirement pension sales commission revenue accounted for 36%, 30%, and 25% of WM revenue respectively, driving overall all-time high of the WM performance. WM AUM increased 11% year-over-year to KRW 211.1 trillion. Total client assets, which combines WM and brokerage assets, increased 27% to KRW 518.1 trillion, which is another new record high. Pension assets, which is a key strategic focus for Mirae, continued upward trend growing 35% year-over-year to KRW 57.8 trillion. According to the 2024 Retirement Pension statistics, the share of DB-type pensions fell below 50%, showing a shift to investment products and away from savings types.
Well-positioned to capture this shift, we quickly rose from number four in 2024 to number one in 2025 in terms of DC pension assets in the entire financial sector, and in 2025 attracted KRW 4,415.9 billion, which is 19.1% of all new DC inflow. Retirement pension revenue was KRW 86.9 billion, which is a 17% increase year-over-year. During the past eight years, retirement pension profit grew 19% CAGR, and balance also grew by a solid 24%. Pension reserve growth, combined with improving profitability, is generating a snowball effect and solidifying a stable profit foundation from our pension business. The recent update to digital asset related laws and regulations has made digital asset business requirements more clear, and we have already established a direction for our digital asset business and have participated in Digital Exchange Consortium in line with the security token regulatory framework.
We will continue to implement step by step the specific business strategies in key areas, including digital wallet, asset tokenization, and stablecoins. Next is a look at our trading and other financial income on page seven of the presentation. Trading and financial income includes the separate financial statement-based income generated from traditional trading of stock, bonds, and derivatives, S&T, and also separate financial statement-based PI gains. It also includes direct revenue from prop trading, FX gains and losses, and IB asset gain and losses. Total trading and financial income was KRW 1,265.7 billion, which is a 14% increase year-over-year and the highest ever on a full year basis. This included KRW 383.6 billion of distribution and dividend income and KRW 882.1 billion of trading and financial income.
In Q4, despite restrictive market environment due to external factors, fixed income investment exceeded its annual target by focusing on rate hedging and conservative management strategy. Fixed income balance was KRW 39.6 trillion, similar to last year. Flow trading also continued to deliver solid profits with bullish domestic stock market and system upgrades. Given its low sensitivity to market volatility, it helps also to stabilize our overall performance. In 2026, this year, we plan to expand market making and other businesses that connect overseas subsidiary, including Hong Kong, and gradually build out a new digital asset product platform. Next is a look at consolidated PI asset fair valuation. During Q1 to Q3, PI assets delivered a run rate of around KRW 100 billion gain each quarter.
As an investment specialist, Mirae Asset Securities generated more than KRW 1 trillion in gains last year from investments in innovative companies alone. After reflecting losses from overseas real estate and alternative assets, total full year PI investment asset gain was KRW 645 billion. In 2026, we expect positive results to continue, given that the commercial real estate market is expected to show modest recovery and AI and other innovation industries are expected to continue growth. That said, we will heighten risk management against potential market volatilities. From the very beginning, global diversification has been our key strategy, and we have focused on creating a virtuous cycle by investing capital earned from our investment portfolio back into other promising investments.
This is how the investment business delivered so many achievements last year. We will continue to actively search for high-quality assets in this rapidly changing market to generate sustainable growth based on this virtuous cycle of capital investment. Next is a look at our IB performance on page eight of the presentation. IB revenue decreased 10% YOY to KRW 167.4 billion. In 2025, major deals included a total of 21 IPOs, including LG CNS, Seoul Guarantee Insurance, The Pinkfong Company, and IntoCell, as well as Samsung SDI new rights issue, SSangyong C&E acquisition refinancing, and the Cheongna International Business Complex development project, and EcoPro PRS. In Q4, additional gains were earned by exercising our warrants for IntoCell and G2G Bio. Corporate loans, which are classified as interest income, recorded KRW 96.3 billion, which is a 3% YOY fall.
We are also planning to actively contribute to supply of capital to new growth, middle market, and SMEs by supplying IMA-linked product in line with the policy to drive increase in venture capital supply. For project financing, PF, we have been generating additional gains by monitoring and managing existing project sites. We maintain a comprehensive and conservative stance towards new PF deals. Next is a look at overseas subsidiaries. This is page nine. Overseas subsidiaries reported pre-tax income of KRW 498.1 billion, which is a 200% YOY growth. This is another record high and accounts for 24% of total consolidated pre-tax income. Q4 pre-tax income was KRW 199.1 billion, and 2025 overseas subsidiary ROI, which is based on net income, was 8.2%. Last year, N.Y. reported KRW 214.2 billion, a record high from flow trading and investment asset valuation gain.
The share of DM, including U.S., Hong Kong, and Europe, which with a stronger flow trading business accounted for 67% of pre-tax income. The more brokerage-focused EM accounted for 33% of pre-tax income. By region, U.S. was 43%, Hong Kong 17%, India 14%, and Vietnam 10% of total income. In 2026, this year, we plan to continue expansion of the S&T business while also gradually pursuing stable retail business expansion in DM and EM, accelerate the shift from existing brokerage business to WM business. We will also work on building the right platforms in time for digital asset-related laws that are being passed in DM and on creating a global asset management, one platform, as a foundation for mid to long-term growth. That completes our 2025 earnings conference call. Thank you.
Yes. We will now begin the Q&A session. Please press star and number one on your phone to ask questions. To cancel, press star and number two. First question will be by Mr. Min-Gi Jeong from Samsung Securities. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning. This is Min-Gi Jeong, an Analyst from Samsung Securities. First, I'd like to thank you for delivering good performance. I have three questions or so regarding your results. I think last year, there was significant contribution in terms of your total earnings from that segment. According to media reports recently, this year, [basics] or I think many other assets that you own, are preparing to do an IPO or have M&A in the plan, so they may contribute to leveling up your fair value, the valuation side.
In terms of your internal view, from investment point of view, the exposure to these innovative tech companies, what kind of exit strategy are you thinking of? Methods, possible timing, and criteria. In case of exit, you mentioned how you want to build up a virtuous cycle of investments, but in terms of the use of proceeds, it could be used to return value to shareholders, for example, it can be reinvested in part, or it can be used to fund M&A for your mainstay business. What is your allocation strategy in the case of those exits? The second question is, regarding your investment into innovative companies. In linkage with your domestic core business, Mirae Asset Securities, as you said, in terms of investing in overseas tech companies, I think you're very strong. Apart from prop trading, what about in terms of retail investors?
Are there any needs where you can offer joint investment opportunities, for example, into SpaceX, to your retail customers? Will they be given any access into these opportunities? Just as examples. As a leader in the IMA market going forward, for these types of new type of IMA offers, will you also be incorporating the innovative global names in the IMA portfolio as well? Regarding a revision to the Commercial Code, regarding the cancellation of treasury shares, I think there are ongoing discussions. From your treasury stock holdings, not only shares bought back on the market, but the treasury stock, we have significant holdings from your past merger. Assuming cancellation of those treasury shares, what kind of impact will it have in terms of your shareholder equity? How much of an equity deduction do you anticipate?
In the event that a share cancellation actually becomes mandatory post legislation or regulatory change, could this potentially lead to any changes in your shareholder return policy?
Yes. Thank you for your questions. I think there were many questions mixed together. Regarding our investments into innovative companies, you asked about our exit strategy and use of exit proceeds in the event that we exit. First, in terms of overall strategy, we have a diverse array of investments into global innovative companies. Most of them are unlisted companies at the moment. We see very bright prospects from these names, and they are already performing quite strongly. We are not at this stage thinking seriously about the exit.
Basically, in terms of our innovative tech companies, the exit, of course, will take place at a time where we see it to be the ideal timing, and then the funds that are recovered will be either reinvested into high growth potential industries or it could be used in M&A deals as well, again, to stably anchor a virtuous cycle of investment. So we will be working to put in place this kind of virtuous cycle. In terms of our innovation to innovative tech companies, this is a strength. Outside of prop trading, I think you asked about whether we can offer joint investment opportunities to retail investors as well. You asked whether we have any case studies. You asked also about the linkage to our IMA business or whether that can be incorporated into our IMA products.
In terms of case studies or examples, already our prop trading or prop investments into domestic and global innovative companies, when we invest our principal, so solid assets, for example, SpaceX or Perplexity, for these solid investments, already we have structured product offerings to our retail investors so that they could also take part. Although we cannot say that 100% of our projections have played out, for the most part, most of these investments have been delivering good results so far. It's not just us investing into innovative tech companies, but for, say, retail investors, we continue to provide them with opportunities to invest as an LP in VC funds. As productive finance and venture capital become increasingly more important, we will be strengthening these types of offerings. They also offer tax benefits to the investors as well.
For our customer base, I think this will certainly be a good opportunity. This, again, is something that we will reinforce going forward. In terms of our IMA products, incorporating the innovative tech companies in the portfolio, obviously, that is something that we think can help enhance the return, the yield, certainly. That is something that we are considering. That said, between the IMA products and the underlying assets, the regulatory authorities are requiring that there's the alignment of maturity between the two sides. It is what we have received guidance to strictly control that kind of maturity matching. So because of that requirement, I think it may act as a certain constraint. We will see as we go to see how much we can actually incorporate our innovative tech investments in our IMA products.
Then not only individual companies, but some of our group affiliates are quite competitive in terms of discovery of innovative companies from the domestic market as well. We want to use this kind of collaborative structure as a GP and LP with our affiliates to further boost our IMA return. Then the Commercial Code is currently pending the revised proposed revision. You asked if the treasury shares from our past merger are canceled, how that will impact our equity Then, upon legislative or regulatory change, you asked if share cancellation becomes mandatory, how that will affect our shareholder return. Well, the treasury stock from our past merger, currently we hold 110 million of those treasury shares. If they're fully canceled, that will be equivalent to a reduction of KRW 450 billion in shareholder equity.
Again, this proposed revision to the Commercial Code is still pending at the National Assembly. For treasury stock from mergers, which we came to hold involuntarily just as a consequence of the merger, I think it is still very evenly divided whether it will be included in the mandatory scope or not. For security companies, shareholder equity is actually a key source of competitiveness. I do not personally think that increasing shareholder returns by resorting to reduction in shareholder equity is advisable. However, because shareholder returns is also very important, we'll see when the legislation, the revision, is finalized, and we will try to come up with the optimal plan that can be win-win for both the shareholder and the company alike. Of course, we'll always pay the maximum attention to shareholder returns.
I think invariably, it will constantly be subject to change considering our current share valuation, where common shares are trading at a PBR of above two times. To buy back and cancel treasury shares, no less common shares, given the current valuation, I don't think it will be in the interest of our shareholders, and that is quite clear. According to our shareholder return plan, we have our commitment to cancel 15 million shares up to next year's AGM, so we will complete that. According to our value-up plan, we talked about using our profits available for dividends to buy back and retire a total of 100 million shares by 2030. I think you will appreciate that given the current share price levels, we have to consider whether this is in the best shareholder interest or not.
We are examining our options from a multifaceted perspective, and as we observe developments, if there's any change, we will communicate actively with the market.
We'll take the next question. Yes. The next question is Doo-san Baek from Korea Investment & Securities. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. This is Doo-san Baek of KIS. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to ask questions. I also have three questions. First question is about your KRW 11 trillion of investment assets. We do know that you have KRW 11 trillion of investment assets. Can you break that down in more detail, equity versus loan, domestic versus overseas? Also, within that portfolio, are there any potential assets that you think need monitoring? Considering all of that, how much of a return do you expect from your investment assets? Second question may overlap with the previous question. This is about shareholder return again. You've just mentioned about treasury shares and what to do with it, but it seems that currently the government policy prefers distribution and dividends. That actually is about the separate taxation on dividend income.
Do you have plans of meeting the qualifications to become a high-dividend company? Third question is about the digital asset, the Mirae Asset 3.0 strategy, not only at Mirae Asset Securities, but at the entire Mirae Asset group. There is directly, indirectly connections with, for example, Dunamu, and you're planning to also support virtual asset or digital asset transaction as part of your one platform. I want to hear a bit more about your digital asset and platform strategy.
Yes, thank you very much for those three questions. First, about our investment assets. You've asked for a bit more color into the composition and expected return levels and about any potential monitoring risk assets in the alternative asset side. To answer those questions, as you mentioned, as of end of 2025, our total investment asset is around KRW 11 trillion.
Equity versus loan is 8: 2, and domestic versus overseas is about 5 to 5, roughly. Regarding returns from these investment assets, as you know, each asset is very different. It's difficult to give you, for example, an average return that we expect. But as we mentioned, thanks to the increase in fair value of our investment assets, especially the innovation company investment, we recorded a total of KRW 645 billion in gains in 2025, even after accounting for some losses. Also, what I believe is most meaningful is that on average, we're running at around KRW 163 billion gain each quarter throughout last year on average. The KRW 11 trillion of investment assets, when we look at that does include some alternative assets, real estate, and infrastructure assets.
That is around KRW 2.2 trillion alternative assets, and corporate financing is around KRW 8.8 trillion. Regarding our alternative assets in the portfolio, we are monitoring them, but we don't see any investments that are at particular risk of loss. Regarding the investment into innovative companies, there are some assets that we have that has gotten a lot of press coverage. Of course, we are limited in what we can offer on public setting, but SpaceX and xAI merger was recently announced publicly. I'm hearing that they are planning to IPO within the year, and if that happens, we are expecting a high upside. For xAI, you've probably heard from the media, we actually made a larger investment in xAI versus our investment into SpaceX.
If the two companies merge as announced, and if they are able to go through that IPO, I think we will have quite a lot of positive events coming from these investments throughout the year. Your second question was about our capital policy, about the dividends, and whether we plan to satisfy the requirements to become a high dividend payout company. The tax law revision for separate taxation of dividend income has been passed. Personally, yes, the Korean government currently is emphasizing productive finance, and we're also going through this huge transition to AI. It's at a magnitude similar or even surpassing what we experienced during the Industrial Revolution. At the end of the day, we are clearly aware that shareholder return is very, very important.
Personally, I think that at this point, given the situation, this may not be the right time for us to focus more on dividend and other shareholder return over, for example, investments. Currently, we are studying from various angles what will be in the best interest of our shareholders ultimately, and the direction will be determined soon through a BOD resolution. When it comes to shareholder return and enterprise value enhancements, there are many ways of achieving this depending on the situation. Looking at our current stock price level and domestic and external environments, we think that pursuing higher stock price through investment-driven growth in parallel with shareholder return appears to be the best approach.
We have not yet discussed any renewals of our value-up program, but if we see updates become necessary due to various external and internal factors, we will actively communicate this with the market when that time comes. Your last question was about our digital asset business, the Mirae Asset 3.0. You've asked a bit more color on the direction, and we've already communicated through the media about the security token platform and digital wallet being a key foundation of what we plan to do. We want to use our security token platform and digital wallet to develop a business that provides various tokenized assets to market and customers, and this is what we refer to as Mirae Asset 3.0. As you know, the framework for the STO business has already been established with the passing of the Capital Markets Act and the Electronic Securities Act.
We plan to upgrade the security token platform and develop a stable business using a blockchain-based tokenizer engine that can efficiently tokenize high-quality assets. We also need to source high-quality underlying assets to tokenize and also develop products. We will initially target launch within Korea first. For digital wallet, we will need to monitor how the regulation develops, and we will be ready to introduce features as they become regulatorily available. Ultimately, we aim to provide clients with a seamless experience across all regions and all asset types. As already covered by the media, the Mirae Asset group at the group level is looking into acquire the virtual asset exchange Korbit. This is because collaboration with such virtual asset exchanges are critical in operating a digital asset business. These virtual asset exchanges also provide brokerage functions in addition to trading assets.
In that sense, it's very likely that all these digital assets in the future will be traded over these virtual asset exchanges. In that sense, being the only financial group to own a virtual asset exchange will be a unique differentiator for Mirae. The strength of the digital asset business is that, as demonstrated by Robinhood, with a competitive platform, it can compete on a global basis in the retail market. Now, unlike Robinhood, we already have a large scale asset. Once we have the right platform, an attractive platform, we believe that we will be quite competitive on a global basis. Robinhood's market cap soared with its STO and on-chaining of RWA, and we think that once on track, our digital asset business will grow into another stable and high-growth business model of its own right. That completes my answer.
Yes, due to limited time, we will end the call here. If you have any additional questions, please forward them to the ESG and IR team of Mirae Asset Securities. Email address is the irteam@miraeasset.com. Thank you very much for joining our 2025 earnings conference call of Mirae Asset Securities.