Dressed in a casual sweater, Toss Securities CEO Kim Gyu-bin sits at a desk with just a laptop. There is no private secretary and no company car. His schedule is managed by artificial intelligence, and he hails TADA taxis for his commutes. Instead of a private executive office, he sits among his employees in an open-plan hot-desking workspace. This is the daily routine of the 37-year-old chief executive.
Graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in the United States with a degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering, Kim has built a career through entrepreneurship and IT service planning. Taking the helm as a brokerage CEO in his 30s without a traditional financial sector background is highly unconventional. After taking office in 2024, he successfully secured a two-year contract extension last month. This marks his very first media interview since stepping into the role.
Throughout his interview, CEO Kim consistently emphasized the concept of “problem-solving.” He shared that his past startup experiences taught him that accurately defining and solving the problems faced by customers and the market is more important than anything else.
Below is a Q&A session with CEO Kim.
Q: Recent stock market plunges have caused massive losses for retail investors. Critics argue that easily accessible trading platforms may exacerbate these losses.
A: We deeply acknowledge the difficulties retail investors face amid surging market volatility. During times like these, a brokerage’s role is to help users make independent decisions based on accurate information. We have focused on continuously monitoring customer yields and providing services that help investors understand the market, such as AI earnings calls, signals, and real-time issues. Moving forward, we aim to transcend direct investment support to strengthen asset management functions and facilitate long-term wealth building through tax-advantaged accounts like pension savings and Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs).
Q: Investment communities are extremely active. Is there a risk of investors being swayed by false financial information?
A: From the moment we launched the community feature, our top priority was “Trust and Safety.” While healthy discussions offer positive benefits, side effects like the spread of inaccurate information and illegal stock-reading rooms do exist. We utilize AI and dedicated operations teams to filter out problematic posts while operating a “Shareholder Badge” system to verify actual stock ownership.
Q: How has your personal stock investment performance been?
A: I started investing in stocks for the first time when I joined Toss Securities in 2022. When acquaintances ask which stocks they should buy, I show them my personal account. (Laughing) That usually stops them from asking further questions. Because I started as a novice investor, I had many questions about why we needed to understand terms like price-to-earnings ratios (PER) or price-to-book ratios (PBR), and how to interpret charts. Thinking from the exact same perspective as our customers has greatly helped me in my work.
Q: Toss is currently pursuing the acquisition of a Japanese securities firm. What is the strategy?
A: Toss is exploring global business opportunities using its Singapore-based subsidiary, Toss Global, as a strategic foothold. It is still too early to discuss specific collaboration directions. Meanwhile, Toss Securities is focusing on more stably supporting domestic clients’ U.S. stock trading through its local U.S. subsidiary.
Q: How would you evaluate your first term, and what are the main tasks for your second term?
A: The goal for my second term is “trust.” Building an image as a trustworthy financial institution alongside our reputation as an innovative brokerage is our primary homework for the next two years. (β» He hosted an ethics and compliance management declaration ceremony last month and personally headed the internal control inspection task force.) As the first authorized mobile-era securities firm, I believe we have set new standards in the investment landscape. While we have previously established ourselves as an innovative brokerage defined by qualitative growth, diverse experiments, changes, and rapid speed, our focus for the next two years will be building absolute trust.
Q: Why did you place such a heavy emphasis on ethics and compliance management?
A: We have grown into a company trusted by over 10 million customers managing tens of trillions of won in assets. We must repay that trust accordingly. I feel a heavy sense of responsibility regarding past incidents over the past five years where customers suffered damages due to system failures and inaccurate investment information. We will never take this lightly. Last January, we increased our security personnel from 17 to 43 and established robust redundancy systems. Recently, when a system failure at an alternative trading platform halted U.S. stock trading for several brokerages, Toss Securities maintained real-time trading thanks to our pre-prepared redundant infrastructure.
Q: Is Toss Securities an IT company or a brokerage?
A: We are a brokerage empowered by technological strengths. Our core essence remains a financial institution where customers can safely and reliably entrust their precious assets.
Q: How has your engineering background influenced your management style?
A: It allowed me to break away from traditional methods repeated by legacy brokerages and challenge conventional wisdom. Questions like, “Why do we need to download multiple apps to trade domestic and U.S. stocks?,” “Why do we have to exchange currency during daytime hours ahead of U.S. trading?,” and “Why can’t we trade domestic and foreign stocks in a single account?” allowed me to fundamentally question practices that were previously taken for granted.
Q: What do you consider to be the core differentiator of Toss Securities?
A: Our method of defining and solving customer problems, paired with our unique organizational culture, is our differentiator. To help customers hesitant to invest due to high individual U.S. share prices, we introduced fractional share trading starting from 1,000 won for the first time in Korea back in 2022. Providing real-time translations and summaries of U.S. corporate earnings reports is also designed to bridge the information gap for Korean investors. We can confidently say we are the leading domestic brokerage in terms of U.S. stock investor scale.
Q: How do you communicate with your employees?
A: We hold a town hall meeting every two weeks where all members gather in one place. We share company updates that employees are curious about and directly answer their questions. For new hires, I personally spend an hour explaining why the company exists and what problems we aim to solve. During recruitment, we heavily value a genuine passion for problem-solving and the capability to make autonomous decisions and execute them.
Q: Toss Securities has a reputation as a platform primarily used by beginners and younger generations. Is that accurate?
A: Not anymore. Our customer demographics have shifted dramatically. As of August this year, users in their 20s and 30s make up 50% of our customer base, while those in their 40s and above account for 43%. We also have nearly 600,000 teenage users. Customers who started investing on Toss Securities five years ago have now accumulated considerable investment experience and knowledge. Our platform continues to evolve by offering more detailed charts and advanced information.
Q: What kind of securities firm do you want to build moving forward?
A: Toss Securities aims to be a platform where customers can grow their assets over the long term rather than being encouraged to trade frequently. As people build families, their financial goals evolve. Financial needs shift across different life stages, such as marriage funds, children’s education expenses, or retirement planning. We want to provide practical help for customers to set and achieve those goals. While we have achieved remarkable growth in the retail investment sector, we will focus more on innovating retail investment services rather than hastily expanding into new areas like corporate finance (IB) or real estate project financing (PF) right away.
