Mirae Asset Securities Co., a major player in the investment banking industry in South Korea, is making aggressive moves to gain a competitive edge in the token securities market that will be introduced later this year.

Mirae Asset Securities said Wednesday that it is engaged in establishing a collaborative system for security token offerings (STO) with global financial companies in the U.S., Japan, Europe, and Singapore.

A security token is somewhere between fractional investment and cryptocurrencies. Various assets are split between multiple investors and are digitally securitized for trading within the framework of the capital markets act.

Mirae Asset Securities is moving to preemptively create an international network as digital-based token securities offer easy access to overseas markets. It aims to fully take advantage of its edge of having the largest number of overseas entities among Korean securities firms.

“We saw that security tokens can globalize Korea’s finance, which was not possible through conventional methods,” said an unnamed official from Mirae Asset Securities.

The official added that it will collaborate with large financial companies to discuss global compatibility and international cooperation for regulation and institutionalization.

Earlier, Mirae Asset Securities formed a consultative body for tokenized securities named “Next Finance Initiative (NFI)” with domestic firms.

While such consultative bodies for tokenized securities are being launched by securities firms, the NFI led by Mirae Asset Securities stands out in that it is joined by large platform companies that represent each sector.

SK telecom Co., for example, will be engaged in the platform development as well as discovering underlying assets. Developing underlying assets in real estate and arts will be done in collaboration with Korea Real Estate Investment & Trust and Seoul Auction Blue Co.

“We are also discussing the establishment of a consultative body with major companies in the financial, payment, and consumption sectors in addition to those companies,” said an official from Mirae Asset Securities. “We plan to focus on developing sound underlying assets to offer attractive security tokens in the initial stage of the market.”

The company has also decided to work with law firms such as Barun Law LLC and Yoon & Yang LLC for legal advice in the uncharted area.

“We are dedicated to launching innovative financial services that actively accommodate the needs of future generations,” said Ahn In-seong, chief executive officer of Mirae Asset Securities.

By Choi Hee-seok and Choi Jieun

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