Hello, this is Allen, CEO of Kakao Pay. Thank you all for joining our third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Let's run through our key metrics for the quarter, starting with TPV, Consolidated Revenue and Expense, and P&L, followed by business highlights for Q3 of 2024. First, on key profit metrics for the third quarter.
[Foreign language]
Q3 2024 TPV was up 17% year-over-year to KRW 42.2 trillion, with Revenue TPV increasing 18% year-over-year to KRW 12.4 trillion, accounting for 30% of total TPV. Revenue for the quarter was up 17% year-over-year, reporting KRW 186.2 billion, and net loss for the quarter was KRW 27.5 billion. In relation to the default by TMON and WeMakePrice, they are currently going through the bankruptcy process, and Kakao Pay has booked KRW 31.2 billion as bad debt expense as of end of September. Since the auditors are assessing the nature of such claims and whether they are recoverable, there may be changes in the process of conducting the year-end audit. EBITDA was KRW 1.7 billion, sustaining two consecutive quarters of profit-making.
[Foreign language]
Now for the business metrics. Kakao Pay's MAU count as of third quarter, end of '24, was 23,960,000 users. For Kakao Pay's major services, which include payment, finance, and money transfer, transaction per user increased 10% year-over-year, reaching 90 transactions. But as we are in the process of fading out receipt, e-document, and authentication services with low contribution to revenue and earnings in order to better focus on our core businesses, there was a decline in total transaction count, pushing down transaction per user against the entire suite of services by 6% year-over-year to 99 transactions. For the domestic market, we now have 1.1 million on and offline merchants, growing the base by 15% year-over-year. Next, I will turn it over to our CFO, Aiden, who will present on the details of Q3 TPV.
[Foreign language]
Hello, this is Aiden. Q3 TPV was KRW 42.2 trillion, up 17% year-over-year. Revenue TPV was 30% of total TPV, going up by 18% year-over-year, reaching KRW 12.4 trillion. We are seeing sustained double-digit TPV growth across the entire suite of services. For the payment service, there was 19% year-on-year growth, online increasing 3% and offline 131%. Offline TPV growth was mainly driven by the so-called killer categories, such as convenience stores and F&B, frequented by consumers, while everyday life services like paying tax and utilities payment surged in the third quarter, driving the overall TPV growth. Cross-border on and offline payments also saw robust TPV growth, underpinning year-over-year growth for the entire payment services.
[Foreign language]
Financial Service TPV was up 17% year-over-year. Since the implementation of phase two Stress DSR, which is a more stringent control over household loans, total loan origination from the banking sector contracted versus last year, but the TPV for auto, mortgage, and refinancing loans increased year-over-year. Stock trading TPV recorded an increase of 95%, which is a twofold increase year-on-year, while total trading volume increased 29% year-over-year. Money transfer TPV was up 16% versus the previous year. Also, in June, we scaled up the envelope design on which people can write down personalized messages when they make money transfers, adding a variety of designs catering to different age groups, tastes, and occasions. Users from all age groups reacted well to this as they made these envelopes in collaboration with professional sporting teams, popular emoji artists, and girl groups.
[Foreign language]
Third quarter revenue was up 17.2% year-over-year and 0.4% quarter over quarter to KRW 186.2 billion. We saw year-over-year revenue growth across all of our business segments. Driven by offline and cross-border payment growth, payment service revenue was up 8.3% year-over-year, recording KRW 122.9 billion. There was sizable year-over-year growth in revenue across loans, investments, and insurance in Q3, with financial service revenue coming in at KRW 55 billion, accounting for 30% of total revenue for two consecutive quarters. Investment service, which is mostly made up of Kakao Pay Securities revenue, was impacted by a decline in wholesale business, fall in the FX rate at the end of Q3, and change from gross to net bases in the way overseas stock trades are settled, which squeezed gains from foreign currency transaction quarter over quarter, while increase in overseas trading volume drove year-on-year revenue growth of 18.8%. Other revenue for Q3 saw a slight quarter on quarter decline from e-document and other segments, with advertisement revenue being an exception, but on a year-over-year basis recorded a 6.9% increase. Next is on operating expense.
[Foreign language]
Q3 operating expense was up 15% year-over-year to KRW 193.7 billion. Marketing expense was up 18.4% year-over-year due to promotions following offline payment expansion. However, on a cumulative basis, marketing spend was 8.6% against revenue as of Q3, being kept under 10% in line with the discipline of cost efficiency. Commission fee increased 12.6% year-over-year on the back of revenue growth from main services, which led to an increase in agency fees. Consolidated labor cost was up 10.3% year-over-year due to increases in headcount following expansion of insurance service business, among other factors. We are maintaining an efficient headcount planning for Kakao Pay and its consolidated entities. Driven by increase in revenue from Kakao Pay Securities and Kakao Pay Insurance and rise in related expenses, other expense was up 53.1% year-over-year, while falling 7.7% quarter-over-quarter. The decline is due to the changes made on the method of settlement for overseas stock trading, which pushed down foreign currency transaction cost and FX decline as of end of the quarter and efficiency gains from Kakao Pay Securities.
[Foreign language]
Q3 consolidated operating loss was hence KRW 7.5 billion, recording a reduction in size of the loss on a year-over-year basis. EBITDA reported KRW 1.7 billion, continuing the profit streak for two consecutive quarters. On the back of KRW 31.2 billion of one-off expense related to TMON and WeMakePrice , we ended up reporting a net loss of KRW 27.5 billion. But the classification under expense account may be subject to change following the year-end audit on the nature and recoverable ability of the claim. Grounded on steady foundation of payment and loan services, investment and insurance business of the financial subsidiary will drive top-line growth, and we will make sure efficient cost control measures drive improvement in the earnings structure.
[Foreign language]
Q3 standalone revenue was KRW 156.1 billion , up 9.9% year-over-year. Q3 standalone operating profit was KRW 9.4 billion, reflecting KRW 31.2 billion won of one-off losses. Net loss was KRW 9.5 billion won. Next, I will hand it over to Jason, Head of Business, for an update on third quarter business highlights.
[Foreign language]
Hello, this is Jason. Let's first run through the payment business. Offline payment is on a smooth sail while online payment solidified its footing in the market. Domestic and cross-border offline payment is showing solid growth every quarter and we expect to reach 5 million offline users by November, one month earlier than the original forecast. We are actively deploying our payment service across new merchants and will also integrate with other payment methods like MST and NFC to enhance usability of Kakao Pay across domestic offline coverage base. Paymint is a subsidiary of Kakao Pay and they rolled out Pay Ssem in September, completing the deployment of Kakao Pay's payment across the entire 68,000 merchant base, driving more than a tenfold increase in payment transactions generated from the Pay Ssem in the very first month.
[Foreign language]
For the online payment, following the changes in the e-commerce landscape, user trend metrics for open market and official brand mall is trending upwards, accompanied by growth in Kakao Pay usage in malls where Kakao Pay payment is offered as a payment option. Number of online transactions, including domestic and cross-border, amounted to more than 350 million in Q3 and we expect to reach above 400 million count come second quarter of 2025. We are committed to sustaining the growth of domestic and cross-border online payment through strong coupling with official brand malls for airlines, fashion, and travel and large-scale open markets. Next, Jeff, who is in charge of services, will present some key highlights for securities, insurance, and the pay app business.
[Foreign language]
Hi, this is Jeff, heading the Services Division. I will start with Kakao Pay Securities. Kakao Pay Securities' total deposit asset increased 55% from KRW 2 trillion last year, reaching above KRW 3.2 trillion, underpinned by growth in the stock balance. It's worth noting that Kakao Pay Securities' stock balance was up 91% year-on-year to KRW 1.8 trillion, which is close to the company's total deposit asset of KRW 2 trillion as of Q3 of last year. Q3 trading TPV was KRW 12.5 trillion, up 29% year-on-year, while trading transactions increased by 199%. Kakao Pay Securities' Stock Collection service leads to conversion of users of this feature to other generalized transactions, it strengthens fundamentals of stock trading service, and normalizes the fee scheme, thereby resulting in higher earnings and narrowing the size of its operating deficit. Operating loss thus significantly decreased from KRW 11.6 billion last year to KRW 6.2 billion in the third quarter.
[Foreign language]
In September, we gave a facelift to the Discovery tab, improving ease of access to information such as key issues related to each holding, the order book, and dividend payout information. The Stop Loss feature was also released, enhancing the convenience of allowing investors to either take profit or Stop Loss at a preset return level.
[Foreign language]
Stock Collection service acquired more than 600,000 users since its renewal one year ago. Many of the users onboarding through this service have migrated to other service offerings, and conversion rate continues to uptrend at a double-digit level. In November, we will introduce personal annuity savings product. We will use Kakao Pay Securities' originality in designing the annuity product, usually considered to be complex and difficult, by leveraging the unique usability. After its rollout, we plan to promote and offer a variety of benefits until the end of the year, providing a comfortable environment for more users to manage their post-retirement asset.
[Foreign language]
Next, key performance highlights of Kakao Pay Insurance. This was the first quarter Kakao Pay Insurance recorded triple-digit revenue of KRW 11.5 billion. During summer vacation and Chuseok holiday season, overseas travel insurance hit both record high daily and monthly results. Riding on the popularity momentum, we also rolled out long-term travel insurance for travelers planning to stay abroad for an extended period of time from three months to a year. Just three months after the launch of Toddlers Insurance in August, we rolled out insurances for elementary and middle school students. Based on the target group survey feedback, we designed a lighter version of the insurance plan providing coverage for minor but essential injuries and illnesses to give parents a sense of security about their children.
[Foreign language]
We expect to see top-line growth continuing in Q4 with the launch of new products like Golf Insurance and insurance for elementary and middle schoolers, supported by Phone Insurance showing improved results after we expanded the coverage. Kakao Pay Insurance will establish a circular structure in which insurance products customers want are offered at reasonable prices, feeding into higher user satisfaction grounded on easy and convenient user experience, which in turn will drive repurchase and recommendation.
[Foreign language]
Next is on the pay app traffic and cross-usage. Kakao Pay effectively operates dual channels, one being KakaoTalk-based TalkPay and the other being a standalone Kakao Pay app. We undertook a total revamp of pay app in Q2 of 2024 and carried out activities to drive conversion from TalkPay to the pay app, which is generating a clear impact on increasing pay app user activity and retention. Last June, we also launched Payment tab on the pay app and started giving back up to 3% in Kakao Pay points when people use the app offline. Since the introduction of this benefit, number of daytime user counts for online payment using the pay app increased 144% year-over-year. As we offered wide-ranging reward benefits when people use the pay app, number of user engagements with event rewards on the Benefit tab of the app increased by 234% year-over-year. As people can freely enjoy the dual channel of KakaoTalk Pay and Kakao Pay app, coupled with offline payment and strong benefits offered, Kakao Pay app's active daytime user count increased 73% year-over-year.
[Foreign language]
As we scale up user touchpoints for cross-platform usage across major domains of KakaoPay app, we are offering financial scenarios that best fit a user's economic context. Grounded on such efforts, we believe cross-usage will continue to grow across financial services, including topping up the deposit into Kakao Pay Securities account, stock trading, and issuing PLCC credit cards, and use of loans and insurance services. Next, Allen will share with you our ESG and plans going forward before ending the presentation.
[Foreign language]
This is Allen again. After being included in Dow Jones Sustainability Index of Korea last year, we landed at global top 10% ranking among companies in the same sector. We received high scores across all segments of environment, social, and governance, and were recognized for our excellence. We have also expanded engagement and participated in various different environmental and social activities. In collaboration with Korea Environment Corporation, we built a system that can convert net zero points into KakaoPay money, contributing to the spread of carbon neutrality culture. We also rolled out bigger font home screens in our app to help seniors use the app to access financial services without any barriers. We also have a separate customer service call line for people above 65 years of age to support seniors' access to financial services as they are not proficient in using digital financial services. In 2025, we will continue to live up to our social responsibilities through ESG activities that are well aligned with our business direction.
[Foreign language]
We've so far shared the business results for Q3 of 2024. Our consolidated revenue up to Q3 on cumulative basis increased 22% year-over-year, and on revenue growth coming from the financial subsidiaries and narrowing the loss, consolidated operating loss improved compared to previous year. As we enter into Q4, a season when consumer sentiment shows an uptick, we expect to outperform in terms of quarter-over-quarter growth when compared to Q4 of last year. Our plan is to make a solid basis for stable growth and profit expansion powered by online payment while speeding up business expansion through offline and cross-border so as to maintain the growth trajectory of payment services. For finance services, although outlook is uncertain for loans due to more stringent regulation on household debt, KakaoPay offers a variety of fun factors through reward events at benefit tab while guiding healthy usage of financial services through the Making a Habit Challenge, which will generate new traffic and underpin the growth of our loan, investment, and insurance businesses.
[Foreign language]
KakaoPay Securities overseas stock trade is uptrending sharply every quarter, and coupled with the annuity savings product to be released this month, will strengthen new user inflow and lock in current users supporting our top-line growth. For KakaoPay Insurance, wide-ranging products in our insurance portfolio, which form the basis of top-line growth, will form the basis of top-line growth every quarter. We are also seeing improvement in usability post the major pay app update, and there are clear signs of metrics improvement for retention and user activity rate. KakaoPay will secure its place in the top of mind of users as a financial platform that can best solve financial pain points that users encounter most in navigating their daily lives as we continue to explore opportunities and generate tangible business results. Thank you.
[Foreign language] . The first question will be presented by Dong-woo Kim from Kyobo Securities.
[Foreign language]
Thank you for taking my question. I have some questions regarding your financial services. Amid the macro headwind, you've been able to identify opportunities for growth. I would like to understand how you are responding to more stringent regulation on retail loans that is upcoming in the second half of the year. Also, with the rate cut backdrop, how do you see loan comparison markets faring next year? Could you also share with us your business growth potential?
[Foreign language]
Hello, this is Jason. I will respond to your question. If you look at KakaoPay's loan brokerage business, yes, it was impacted by regulation on lending, including the phased application of Stress DSR that was implemented in order to counter the household debt issue as well as to trigger stabilization of the real estate market. We expect regulation, which was restricted previously to mortgages, is broadening to unsecured loans, so banks are cutting back on new lending. So a big impact is expected on the loan brokerage market. Also, we are seeing many more new players entering into the market, including the internet-based banks, fueling competition.
[Foreign language]
Under deepening competition and regulation through many self-measures, we will expand our business. First, based on our data and using such useful financial information, we will leverage wide-ranging data that we have within KakaoPay to identify potential borrowers and convert them to loan service users so that we can expand our user base, which actually is a key pillar behind the growth of the loan brokerage business. Now, if we think about regulation in Q4, there will continue to be issues around regulation on financial institutions' aggregate loan exposure. But we are strengthening our products and services that are in line with the government's policy direction, which means less impact on household loan growth, government-supported loans, loans to businesses, and government rollover loans so as to expand the verticals of loan brokerage business.
[Foreign language]
Policy rate, which has been higher for longer, will start to pivot downward in Q4 following United States FOMC policy change. But since regulation on household loans and the real estate market is going to continue, and as it is quite hard for us to predict the macro backdrop, unless there are issues that can hedge against such trend, we believe that additional rate cuts will be quite limited in terms of its size. Now, since the rate is coming down, government-led refinancing business will help broaden our loan brokerage user base, definitely having some positive impact on our business. To drive upside potential in the market, we are preparing for various different types of loan brokerage business modeling and services so that we can bring meaningful growth in 2025. 네, 다음 질문 받겠습니다. Next question, please.
[Foreign language] . The next question will be presented by Minwook Na from DS Investment & Securities.
[Foreign language]
Thank you for taking my question. I am Na Minwook from DS Investment & Securities. I would like to ask you two questions. First one is that on the back of the whole TMON and WeMakePrice crisis, there's been more stringent criteria that was placed on the registration as a payment gateway player, and we see some of the smaller players pulling out of the market. I think that this could actually work as some opportunity for big players like KakaoPay. So do you have any plans to possibly make any M&A acquisitions going forward in line with the changes that we see in this payment market landscape? My second question relates to your pay app. You've mentioned during your second quarter earnings call that you've made some updates and revamped your pay app functionality. I would like to understand as to whether that had helped improve your usability and also user activity metrics and whether you are seeing any uptrend in Q3 as well. Also, I would like to get some color on the most recent indicators, including MAUs and WAUs, and would like to understand what your strategies are in further expanding your app user base in Q4.
[Foreign language]
Yes, hello, this is Eddie. I will respond to your question about the payment gateway. End of last year, we acquired Paymint, which is an O2O, online to offline payment solution company, and we are in the process of going through the post-merger integration process, PMI process that is. We are bringing KakaoPay's payment services into Paymint merchant base and creating new business collaboration opportunities and synergies as well. We also made minority investments into OKPOS, and we are looking at identifying collaboration opportunities to create synergies and use cases in offline payment. Looking at Paymint, we are also reviewing different investment cases that can help drive meaningful growth for the company and strengthen our service competitiveness and technology. M&A is also part of that review.
[Foreign language]
Other than Paymint, we are actively finding and exploring opportunities to invest in adjacent domains while maintaining growth of our core businesses. We are also open to acquiring overseas companies as well. We don't yet have any definitive project, but we'll follow Kakao Group's applicable policies and processes.
[Foreign language]
Hello, this is Jeff, providing you the answer to the question that you've made. Following the major update of the pay app in the second quarter across payment, benefit, and the Home tab, we continue to upgrade the application in Q3 as well. Using bigger fonts for the home screen for senior users, for instance, and also strengthened usability of key features of the main screen, and we expanded the app's push conversion. We applied various conversion funnels to draw in more users to visit the pay app. As a result, since Q2, pay app user traffic and retention metrics have improved, recording all-time highs. As of October, WAU count was up 86% year over year and 14% quarter over quarter, and MAU was up 41% year over year and 18% versus the previous quarter.
[Foreign language]
We have also exerted full-fledged effort behind guiding conversion to financial services, guiding people to apply for credit cards in the payments tab. We ran Making a Habit Challenge in the benefits tab, and we guided a top-up of deposit accounts in the Home tab as well. All of this is making recommendations on financial services that best fit the context of usage specific to each of these tabs. We started this in Q3 and are seeing good efficiency results come through. We will continue to identify new context that can be used to guide the users to the app while offering benefits and services best befitting the usage habit of our user base so we can drive repeat usage of our key USPs and drive sustained growth in terms of WAU and monthly active users for the pay app. Also, through personalized recommendations and by developing and expanding such scenarios, we will further cement our positioning as a financial platform. 네, 다음 질문 받겠습니다. Next question, please.
[Foreign language] . The next question will be presented by Sang-Won Park from Goldman Sachs.
[Foreign language]
Thank you. My name is Park Sang-won from Goldman Sachs. I would like to ask you questions related to your financial services revenue. I see that the mix or the portion of your financial revenue out of your total revenue is going up, but your loan brokerage business is facing some headwinds, basically more stronger regulations such as a stronger and more stringent DSR requirement. Compared to that, your securities and insurance business, I think it's up to a certain level at this point. We'd like to understand what your growth targets are and what your plans in terms of revenue mix are going forward.
[Foreign language]
Hello, this is Aiden. Thank you very much for such a good question. Responding to your question, first, if you were to break down our business at a high level, we have a loan brokerage business, which is in the phase of stabilization and sophistication. We have a securities business, which is in growth and profit-making phase. We have an insurance business that is inside a very fast growth stage. Now, the business of brokering alone and intermediating alone has been around for the longest time, and we plan to maintain a double-digit year-over-year growth based on personalization and enhanced matching efficiency. On the other hand, in the securities and insurance business, we will drive steeper top-line growth so that we can power revenue growth across the entire suite of financial services.
[Foreign language]
Especially for the securities business, the Stock Collection feature drove new user traffic, driving gradual growth of cross-border stock trading volume. The impact of promotion and strategies will feed through into 2025, so both top-line and bottom-line growth will be possible.
[Foreign language]
For insurance business, starting with the overseas travel insurance in 2023, there were new product launches, so in 2024, revenue will increase by more than 400% year-over-year. In 2025, three-digit growth will once again be possible in terms of our revenue through securing a steady stream of growth premium returns from our current portfolio and release of new products as a digital insurance company. Also, based on my data, we are embarking on an insurance business that recommends the most appropriate product based on personalized coverage analysis and allows consumers to compare and make reasonable spending decisions. Next year, we will see more salient results.
[Foreign language]
Now, in terms of the revenue mix, out of the financial services, currently the mix is around 30%, but going forward from a mid to longer-term perspective, our non-payment business will eventually account for around 50%. [Foreign language]. Since we've spent about one hour in total, due to the time constraints, we would like to now take the final question.
[Foreign language] . The last question will be presented by In-cheol Yoo from Citi.
[Foreign language]
Thank you for taking my question. I have two questions we would like to ask. The first one has to do with your e-commerce business. The e-commerce growth has been quite subdued, I think, due to the slump in the consumption and domestic economy. We'd like to gain some insight as to what your outlook is regarding Q4 and next year's TPV growth. If you could give us the breakdown between offline and cross-border, as well as give us the breakdown between captive and non-captive under online payment, that would be very much appreciated. Next question is on KakaoPay's MTS. It's now been about two years since its initial launch. Compared to initial expectations, if you look at the market share of MTS, it seems that the catfish effect was quite limited. What do you think is the reason behind this less-than-expected outcome, and also where would you place your strategic focus in the future?
[Foreign language]
Hi, this is Jason. I will respond to your question about the payment business. In Q4, as you know, there is the year-end effect. Online Kakao captive market, therefore, will see solid growth. Even for online non-Kakao business, there are seasonal events like Christmas and Pepero Day . So in Q4, growth will continue in both the online and offline payment. Now, for cross-border payment, in Q4, there is Singles' Day with big promotions upcoming for online cross-border commerce, and National Day of China would trigger a slew of large-scale promotions for offline inbound as well. So we expect that this will fuel steep growth.
2025년에 대해서는 구체적인 가이던스는 추후에 설명드릴 수 있을 것으로 생각되고요. 전반적인 컬러에 대해서만 말씀드리면, 2025년 결제 사업 전체의 성장률은 두 자릿수를 유지할 수 있을 것으로 전망하고 있습니다. 다만 2025년은 앞서 말씀드린 4분기 시장 상황에 대비해서 GDP, 또 민간 소비 시장, 간편 결제, 온라인 쇼핑 등 온라인 결제 관련 지표 성장세가 소폭 둔화될 것으로 보고 있어서 온라인 결제의 YOY 성장률이 과거와 동일한 수준으로 달성되기는 쉽지 않아 보이고, 올해보다 성장률은 소폭 감소할 것으로 예상됩니다. 이러한 상황을 대비하여 대형 온라인 오픈마켓 가맹점 영업은 물론 항공, 패션, 여행 등 핵심 카테고리별 브랜드 공식몰과의 제휴 및 신사업 확장을 통해 신규 시장 파이를 확보하는 방안을 다각도로 모색하고 있습니다.
Now, the details of the year 2025 guidance will be shared later, so I will just provide high-level color on this. In 2025, payment business growth is expected to maintain a double-digit growth. But just like we've seen, just like we were seeing in Q4, growth will slow down slightly in terms of GDP, private consumption, easy pay, and online shopping volume. So online payment growth will fall short of year-over-year growth rate versus what we've seen in the past. So once again, the growth rate will inch down marginally. That is why we're finding ways to expand new business and strengthen coupling with official branded malls, including airlines, fashion, and travel, on top of tapping into merchants of large-scale online open markets, as we look for ways to grow new pieces of pie through new business expansion.
카카오페이는 오프라인과 크로스보더 결제라는 성장 포트폴리오가 있고, 시장에서의 프레젠스도 높은 편입니다. 오프라인 결제 시장은 여전히 신규 성장 가능성과 시장 기회가 많아 올해 보여주었던 40~50%의 높은 성장세를 지속할 수 있을 것으로 기대하고 있습니다. 크로스보더 결제의 경우도 인바운드와 아웃바운드 모두 두 자릿수의 높은 성장률을 유지할 수 있을 것으로 예상합니다. 특히 크로스보더 오프라인은 기존 파트너사와의 견고한 네트워킹을 통해 신규 고객의 간편 결제 서비스 연동을 통해 높은 성장률을 달성하고, 선도적인 글로벌 간편 결제사로서의 입지를 굳건히 다져나갈 계획입니다.
KakaoPay already has two growth verticals, which are offline and cross-border payment, where we have strong market presence. We expect high growth of around 40% to 50% is possible due to this upside potential and market opportunities that we see in offline payment. For cross-border payments, double-digit growth for both inbound and outbound is projected, especially for cross-border offline payment. Grounded on solid networking with our wallet partners, we can integrate with easy pay services in the third country and drive high growth while solidifying our footing as a leading global payment operator.
고정 손가락 한 손으로입니다. 두 번째 질문은 제가 답변드리겠습니다. MTS 관련해서는 런칭 시점 시장 상황의 어려움 역시 있었지만, 내부적 요인으로 크게 두 가지 측면의 아쉬움이 존재하는데요. 먼저 MTS 초기 런칭 시 사용자들의 보다 손쉬운 접근을 위해 간결하고 무겁지 않은 UI/UX를 시작했는데, 이 과정에서 기존 방식 대비 기능적 측면에서의 부족함이 있었습니다. 그리고 카카오페이 증권 MTS 서비스의 초반 인지도 확보 측면에서의 미흡함이 있었습니다.
Hi, this is Eddie responding to your second question. Regarding MTS, there were market headwinds when we first launched the product into the market, but also internally there were two aspects that we could have done a better job at. First, when first launching MTS, we started with a simple and light UI and UX, focusing on easy access. So on the flip side, there was insufficient functionality. Another point that we could have done better is building initial awareness of Kakao Pay Securities' MTS release.
하지만 올해 MTS는 많은 부분에서의 개선을 이루었고, 다행스럽게도 주식 거래 활성화 측면의 중요한 사업 지표들이 매 분기 꾸준하게 잘 올라와 주고 있습니다. 이번 실적 발표에서 설명드린 것처럼 3분기 주식 거래액은 전년 동기 대비 29% 증가한 KRW 12.5조를 기록했고, 거래 건수는 199% 성장했습니다. 10월에도 거래 금액은 꾸준히 증가해서 전년 동기 대비 80% 성장을 달성했고, 매출의 성장과 동시에 수익성 측면에서의 성과 역시 나타나고 있습니다. 해외 주식 거래 수수료를 기존 7BP에서 10BP로 정상화했음에도 충성 고객이 점진적으로 늘어나며 주식 거래 금액이 지속적으로 증가하고 있습니다. 주기적으로 주식을 매매하는 주식 모으기 서비스 역시 가시적인 성과가 나타나며 주식 모으기는 1년 만에 60만 명 이상의 가입자를 확보했습니다.
But thankfully, we were able to identify points and levers that needed to be enhanced, and stock trade activity metrics and other business measures have improved over the quarter. As mentioned, Q3 stock trading increased 29% year-over-year to KRW 12.5 trillion, and number of transactions went up 199%. In October, trading volume sustained an uptrend, posting 80% year-over-year growth. On top of revenue, bottom line was good as well. Overseas trading margin normalized from previous 7 basis points to 10 basis points, but even against that, loyal customers continued to grow, driving higher stock trading volume. Users who started using a typical stock trade service migrated to using Stock Collection feature, which facilitates regular trading, and this has led to more than 600,000 subscribers in just one year since its introduction.
더불어 카카오페이와 카카오페이 증권은 MTS 활성화를 위해 카카오페이스러운 차별화된 투자 콘텐츠 고도화 및 기능 고도화에 더욱 매진하고자 합니다. 첫 번째, 투자 콘텐츠 고도화에 대해서 말씀드리면, 고객이 관심 있어 할 만한 투자 소식을 딱딱하지 않고 읽기 편하게 콘텐츠화하여 전달하고, 관심 종목, 보유 종목 등에 대한 시세 알림을 통해 정보를 적시에 전달하는 고객 친화적 커뮤니케이션을 지속적으로 전개해 나가고자 합니다. 이러한 콘텐츠들이 카카오톡을 통해 유저들 간 유통될 수 있는 플랫폼을 구축하여 카카오톡 유저들이 투자 정보 소비를 위해 지속적으로 MTS를 접하는 순환 구조를 만들어가며 거래 고객 수를 증대시키려 합니다. MTS를 시작한 고객들이 적시에 전달받는 정보를 바탕으로 주제형 토론방에서 커뮤니티를 경험하고, 인기 있는 주식 정보를 통해 주식 모으기로 이어질 수 있도록 하며, 주문, 종목 정보 등의 화면 개편을 지속하여 고객들의 만족도와 충성도를 높임으로써 결국 활성 유저 증가를 달성하고자 합니다.
Also, we will be focusing on offering unique investment content and upscaling our functionality. First, regarding the upscaling of the content offering, by delivering investment-related news that customers are interested in in a manner that is easy to read, packaging it as content, and to communicate timely information on stocks that users are closely following and holding, we will be using market price alerts. All such improvements enable customer-friendly communication. We are also building a platform that facilitates communication among users through KakaoTalk and to build a circular structure where KakaoTalk users will interface with MTS to make use of the investment information, which will ultimately increase the number of trading customers. MTS users will then engage in discussion clubs and communities and act upon the information on popular stocks by using Stock Collection functionality. We are also revamping the screen layout for order submission and stock information. We are seeing higher customer satisfaction and loyalty built up, which is translating into growth in the number of users.
두 번째는 기본 기능 강화 측면에서 그동안 다른 MTS 대비 부족했던 부분인 주문 관련 편의성을 계속해서 고도화하고자 합니다. 특히 9월에는 스탑로스 주문을 오픈하였고, 향후에도 사용자의 주요 VOC를 최대한 빠르게 해결하여 더욱 빠르고 편리하게 거래할 수 있도록 서비스 개선을 진행할 예정입니다. 아울러 사업 포트폴리오 강화 측면에서 해외 주식 외에도 고객이 다양한 투자 경험을 제공할 수 있도록 선물 상품과 개인 연금 저축 사업을 강화할 예정이며, 예수금의 지속적인 증대 계획을 통해 고객에게 더 많은 혜택을 제공하고 카카오페이 내 다양한 서비스와 연계를 바탕으로 시너지를 확보하고자 합니다.
Second, in order to strengthen the fundamentals, we've upgraded the order submission feature to enhance convenience, which needed the enhancement. We also opened the stop-loss feature in September, and we will continue to upgrade services to enable faster and easier transactions based on the VOCs we've received from our user base. We will also beef up business portfolio, funds, and annuity savings to offer a variety of investment experiences on top of cross-border stock trading. We will also grow the size of the deposit, which will allow us to provide more benefits and create synergies with KakaoPay's other various services.
카카오페이 증권의 실적이 시장의 기대만큼 빠르게 올라가지 못했던 점은 사실이지만, 현재는 매 분기 실적을 개선하며 순항 중에 있습니다. 3분기에도 증권 예수금이 지속적으로 증가하며 순이자 마진이 지속적으로 개선되고 있고, 평단 증가와 Money 2.0 신규 가입 유저 증가가 가속화되고 있는 만큼 수익성 역시 개선되고 있습니다. 2025년에도 기본기 강화를 바탕으로 새로운 성장의 버티컬을 완성해 나갈 예정이니 많은 관심을 갖고 지켜봐 주시면 감사하겠습니다.
It's true that the performance of KakaoPay securities is not up to par or expectation, but we are on a smooth sail, improving every quarter. Securities account deposit in Q3 continued to uptrend, NIM is also improving, and average balance growth is accelerating on the back of new user traffic coming in through Money 2.0. So profitability profile is becoming better. In 2025, the fundamentals of business will become stronger while we perfect our new growth verticals. So we ask for your continued interest in our endeavors.
네, 오늘 카카오페이 3분기 실적 발표 세션은 여기서 마치도록 하겠습니다. 오늘 행사에 참석해 주셔서 감사드립니다. 혹시라도 추가로 궁금하신 사항이 있으시면 언제든지 카카오페이 IR팀으로 연락 주십시오. 다시 한번 감사드립니다. Thank you. This brings us to the end of the third quarter 2024 earnings presentation. Thank you for joining us today, and if you have any unanswered questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at the IR team. Thank you.