The first joint sales outlet of KB Kookmin Bank and Hyundai Securities Co. opened for business to offer hybrid financial services amid the prolonged low-interest rate environment.

South Korea’s major financial conglomerate KB Financial Group took over the nation’s fifth-largest securities firm Hyundai Securities Co. earlier this year. And the group set up the first joint sales branch between KB Kookmin Bank, its lending service unit, and the newly acquired Hyundai Securities, in Gwangju, southern Korea, the group said on Tuesday. It plans to offer a comprehensive asset management service based on Hyundai Securities’ investment expertise and KB Kookmin Bank’s extensive sales network.

The financial group’s sales strategy to run a complex sales branch has already been proved effective through a joint outlet run by its investment unit KB Investment & Securities and its retail banking unit. The brokerage house currently operates 16 complex stores and the total asset managed by the stores has reached 4.8 trillion won ($4.3 billion) in the first half of this year, compared with 640 billion won in 2012. And the 2.1 trillion won worth of assets, or 45 percent, out of the total asset managed by the complex store came through referrals by its bank outlets. The operating profit from the retail sales is expected to rise to more than 52 billion won this year from 20.9 billion own in 2012.

The financial conglomerate plans to run ten KB Kookmin Bank-Hyundai Securities joint branches within the second half of this year. The complex store offers a way to customers to expand their investment opportunity amid the low-interest environment, and the group plans to build a KB’s own comprehensive financial service platform through the merger with Hyundai Securities, said an unnamed KB Investment & Securities official.

By Chun Gyung-woon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]