Sep 10, 2024

Viva Republica's Lee Seung-gun Counters Criticisms of Korean Fintech Market Print Editor Yoon Young-sil 닫기 On August 27, Lee Seung-gun (left), CEO of Viva Republica, is explaining the service of face verification Illegal ticket prevention to Kim Byeong-hwan, chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC). (Photo courtesy of Toss) On September 10, Lee Seung-gun, CEO of Viva Republica, presented his counterarguments to criticisms regarding the Korean fintech market at the "Korea Investment Week (KIW) 2024" event held at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul. He stated, "The Korean fintech market is broadly the fourth largest after the U.S., China, and Japan," and added, "Even on a smaller scale, it ranks 12th globally, comparable to the UK, so it is by no means a small market." The Korean fintech market was estimated to be worth 58 trillion won last year and is projected to grow by 44.8% to nearly 84 trillion won (approximately $62 billion) by 2028. Lee Seung-gun delivered a keynote speech on "Toss's Strategy for Sustainable Financial Innovation" during the "Deep Tech and Entertainment" session on the same day. He highlighted that Toss has 19 million monthly active users (MAU), the highest among domestic financial apps, with a particularly high proportion of users in their 20s to 40s. Among them, about 5.61 million users are in their 20s, accounting for 93% of the entire 20s population in Korea. He also mentioned that most new subscribers are in their 50s and that Toss is expanding its user base to include minors aged 7 to 18. Toss initially focused on acquiring customers through fast and convenient remittance services. It then expanded its business to include Toss Pay, loan brokerage, and securities trading. The company is also looking to generate additional revenue through commerce and advertising. It is explained that 90% of its total revenue comes from business-to-business (B2B) transactions. Toss achieved a record of 2 million securities accounts opened within a month of launching Toss Securities. Toss Bank also attracted 7 trillion won in deposits within three weeks of its launch. Lee Seung-gun stated that Toss is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO). Toss's corporate value is known to be between 15 and 20 trillion won. Last year, Toss recorded 1.3 trillion won in revenue. He added, "Although 30% of the population uses Toss, its market share is only about 3%," indicating potential for tenfold growth in the future. Among the world's top 100 unicorn companies, 21 are fintech firms. Viva Republica, which operates the financial super app "Toss," is the only fintech unicorn in South Korea. Lee emphasized, "Korea is a market where fintech companies can build their foundational strength for overseas expansion," and added, "Toss will also enter overseas markets after establishing a solid profit structure domestically." Lee also praised the supportive regulatory environment in South Korea, stating, "There is no country where the government leads financial innovation as much as Korea," and "It is hard to say that Korea's financial regulations necessarily lower corporate value." He noted that Toss is evolving into an essential service for the nation, expanding its user base to include minors aged 7 to 18. "Every time we introduce a new service, we achieve results at a speed unseen in existing industries," he remarked, highlighting the success of their super app strategy.