Kakao Pay Securities crosses 20 trillion won in custody assets, adding 5 trillion in 29 trading days

Kakao Pay Securities announced Monday that its custody assets surpassed 20 trillion won ($13.2 billion) as of May 29.

The milestone came just 29 trading days after the brokerage crossed the 15 trillion won threshold on April 17 — less than half the roughly 70 trading days it took to climb from 10 trillion to 15 trillion won. The acceleration is even more striking across a longer timeline: it took the firm seven months to go from 5 trillion to 10 trillion won, three months to reach 15 trillion, and only about a month and a half to add the final 5 trillion.

Growth has also outpaced the broader market by a wide margin. Kakao Pay Securities said its users' domestic share assets grew at roughly 3.1 times the rate of the Kospi over the same period on a year-on-year basis. The company attributed the outperformance to a user base built up consistently before the market rally, which translated into expanded trading activity once conditions improved.

The gains were broad-based. The 20 trillion won figure reflects balanced growth across domestic shares, overseas shares, pension savings, individual savings accounts (ISA), funds and cash deposits. A clear trend has also emerged of users who started with overseas shares expanding into domestic equities, then building out their portfolios with longer-term vehicles such as pension savings accounts and ISAs.

Particularly notable is a reversal that took hold in March, when the number of users with domestic share balances of 1 million won or more overtook those holding overseas shares for the first time — a gap that has continued to widen since.

Account numbers at Kakao Pay Securities are also climbing sharply. Pension savings accounts have surpassed 500,000, while ISA accounts have exceeded 300,000. A domestic share re-entry account launched March 23 crossed 50,000 accounts in a short period. The company said its streamlined account-opening process and mobile-first pension management features have been key draws for domestic investors.

"Crossing 20 trillion won in custody assets carries three meanings at once: growth that has doubled in speed, performance that has outpaced the market, and the customers at the center of it all," Kakao Pay Securities said. "The user base we built up consistently, even when markets were quiet, is what is driving our growth today."