iNine Pay eyes Kosdaq listing, aims to grow beyond remittance into financial platform

Cross-border digital finance platform iNine Pay has formally launched its Kosdaq listing process. The company posted operating profit in the 20 billion won ($14.4 million) range last year and plans to expand into payments, commerce and lifestyle finance, leveraging the foreign customer base and global financial network it has built through its overseas remittance business.

iNine Pay said Thursday it had submitted a preliminary listing application to Korea Exchange. Korea Investment & Securities is serving as the lead underwriter.

The company recorded sales of 64.7 billion won, operating profit of 23.7 billion won and net profit for the period of 19.6 billion won last year. Its operating margin stood at 36.7 percent and net margin at 30.3 percent. Sales and operating profit have grown at average annual rates of about 28 percent and 33 percent, respectively, over the past five years. The company said its operating profit last year was about 2.8 times higher than that of overseas remittance firms with comparable revenue.

iNine Pay obtained South Korea's first small-sum overseas remittance license in 2017 and started out serving foreign nationals residing in the country. It has since expanded into personal and corporate remittances, mobile wallets, prepaid cards, authentication services, and bank account and card products.

The company cites its bidirectional remittance structure — covering both outbound and inbound flows — as the core of its profitability. By running outbound remittances from Korea alongside inbound transfers from abroad and netting the two flows against each other, iNine Pay reduces prefunding burdens and foreign exchange procurement costs. The approach strengthens its exchange rate competitiveness while generating foreign exchange margin.

iNine Pay also points to the financial network it has built directly with global institutions as a competitive advantage. Its partners include JPMorgan, Shinhan Bank, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Vietcombank, Kasikorn Bank of Thailand, and ABA Bank and Acleda Bank in Cambodia. By reducing reliance on overseas intermediaries, the company has improved remittance costs and processing efficiency.

iNine Pay currently processes more than 3.7 trillion won in annual remittances across more than 4.4 million transactions. It offers remittance services to more than 126 countries in 20 languages, has accumulated more than 600,000 registered members and serves more than 190,000 active customers.

Through its IPO, iNine Pay plans to channel the customers it has acquired through remittances into other financial and lifestyle services. Its ToKpay mobile wallet and prepaid card, designed for foreign nationals, already provides domestic payments and public transit services, along with a quick top-up feature linked to users' home-country bank accounts. The company is also broadening its reach through ToKmarket, a mobile commerce platform for foreigners, as well as electronic signature authentication and lifestyle finance products including bank accounts, cards and loans.

Fintech companies have been moving toward listings in quick succession. Affinit, which operates the mobile finance platform True Balance in India, filed its own Kosdaq preliminary listing application on Wednesday. Affinit posted sales of 112.3 billion won and operating profit of 29.6 billion won in the first half of this year, with Mirae Asset Securities and Hana Securities serving as lead and co-underwriters, respectively. With iNine Pay now joining the queue, fintech firms that have grown on the back of overseas markets are increasingly pursuing IPOs on the Korean exchange.