Toss Securities pledges ethics-first management as CEO Kim Kyu-bin begins second term

Toss Securities is moving to build a tighter internal controls system as it aims to become a more trusted brokerage. The company's chief executive will personally lead a task force to review internal controls, and compliance performance will be factored into staff evaluations and compensation.

Toss Securities announced Sunday that it held an ethics and compliance management declaration ceremony Thursday at its headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, with all employees in attendance.

The ceremony was organized to publicly affirm the company's commitment to making ethics, compliance and consumer protection its core values, and to pledge that all employees would uphold those principles as their top priority in every aspect of their work.

"Toss Securities has grown on the trust of its customers, and protecting that trust is what drives our next phase of growth," CEO Kim Kyu-bin said. "No matter what decision we make, nothing is more important than protecting our customers."

Kim also stressed that compliance extends beyond following written rules. "Regulations are the minimum standard we must meet, but true compliance means exercising sound judgment for customers even in areas where rules are not explicitly defined — and putting that judgment into practice," he said, adding that compliance and consumer protection are a shared responsibility for all employees, not just a specific department.

A written ethics and compliance pledge was then presented, laying out seven commitments for employees to follow when facing difficult decisions at work.

The seven pledges are: to put customers' interests before the company's; to ask "is this truly necessary for the customer?" before every decision; to remember that even a small mistake can undermine the trust of the entire company; to work quickly but correctly; to uphold every principle without exception; to treat compliance as a personal responsibility rather than someone else's job; and to regard laws and principles as a foundation for going further, not a constraint.

The ceremony concluded with the CEO and all employees signing the pledge, committing to put its principles into action.

Toss Securities said it will also pursue institutional reforms to embed an ethics and compliance mindset across the organization.

First, the company will establish an internal controls review TF chaired directly by the CEO. The TF will include the chief compliance officer, the head of financial consumer protection and key leaders from the compliance, consumer protection, IT controls and product divisions. The team plans to review all operations that could affect customers by year-end and introduce any necessary control measures on a systematic basis.

Compliance performance will also be incorporated into personnel evaluations and compensation decisions. When appointing managers and reviewing pay, the company will assess compliance from the outset, and employees in roles that design products and services for customers will be evaluated on their understanding of regulatory requirements and their record of compliance.

Employee training will be strengthened as well. All staff must complete a financial ethics course this year, and employees directly involved in the customer experience — including those in product planning, IT and development — will be required to complete enhanced internal controls training.

"This ceremony is a commitment from every employee to become the most trustworthy brokerage," Kim said. "We will consistently strengthen internal controls on both the institutional and cultural fronts so that today's pledge is reflected in our daily actions."

Toss Securities' board reappointed Kim as an inside director and CEO at a board meeting on Oct. 8 — the first time a Toss Securities chief executive has been reappointed. Kim's new term runs through October 2028, and he will continue to serve as board chair. Born in 1989, Kim graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in electrical and computer engineering.

He founded Nanojo, a mobile gifting service, in 2012, before going on to serve as a product owner at eBay Korea and Toss (Viva Republica), and then as head of product at Toss Securities, before being named CEO in October 2024.

Toss Securities posted record first-half earnings this year, with sales of 845.8 billion won ($627 million), operating profit of 319.5 billion won and net profit of 236.8 billion won. The company's cumulative registered users surpassed 10 million in July.