As securities firms make digital their new growth driver, they are accelerating efforts to secure IT talent. The trend is expanding beyond digital transformation aimed simply at improving existing services such as the home trading system (HTS), to recruiting core personnel who will lead new businesses such as artificial intelligence (AI) and tokenized asset.
According to the industry on the 17th, Next Securities added 47 new hires for a new business last year with the goal of building a finance platform that combines AI and content. The company's platform-type mobile trading system (MTS) in development is centered on a service that provides everything in one flow, from searching for investment information to transaction and post-trade management.
In particular, it significantly increased the share of tech staff to strengthen platform capabilities. Among last year's hires, 33 came from tech-based corporations, about six times the number from securities firms (5). The plan is to bring in large numbers of talent from global consumer services and commerce corporations such as TikTok, Musinsa, Coupang and HYBE, and transplant into the organization their experience in content production, brand communication and user interface (UI).
In the securities industry, recruiting talent to strengthen digital competitiveness has continued. Early last year, Meritz Securities hired Cho Jae-hyung, former head of the KB Innovation Hub who led digital innovation at KB Financial Group, speeding up improvements to its HTS and MTS services. As subscribers quickly increased under a zero-fee policy and complaints grew about a complex UI, this was a step to boost platform usability.
However, recent talent acquisition is seen as different in that it goes beyond digitizing existing businesses and is directly tied to entering new businesses. The analysis is that securities firms, making the digital asset ecosystem a pillar of future growth, are actively moving to secure AI and data specialists who can deliver on it.
In this year's New Year's address, Mirae Asset Securities Vice Chair Kim Mi-seop and Heo Seon-ho said they would "lead a paradigm shift in the global finance industry where traditional asset and digital asset converge," and the company is putting muscle behind related recruiting. The company is offering an annual salary of 100 million won or more as it seeks to hire master's and doctoral-level talent in AI and digital fields. Centered on these hires, it plans to build a Global Digital Wallet to create a financial environment that spans both traditional asset and digital asset, and to expand the tokenization of various asset.
Hanwha Investment & Securities has also moved to secure talent with the goal of transforming into a "digital asset-focused securities firm." It is ramping up related businesses by recruiting digital specialists across frontend, backend, product managers (PM) and UI/UX, including development of Web3-based tokenized asset (RWA).
An official at a securities firm said, "As securities companies are making digital transformation a driver of new industries this year, they are going all out to attract talent," adding, "The importance of tech talent is also growing in the securities industry."