Mirae Asset Group founding Chairman Park Hyeon-joo (C) poses with senior executives during an event marking the launch of the group’s global investment platform, MAPS, in Hong Kong on Friday. Photo by Mirae Asset Securities
SEOUL, June 29 (UPI) — South Korea’s Mirae Asset Securities said Monday that it launched a global investment platform in Hong Kong on Friday to draw overseas retail investors.
The Seoul-based brokerage noted that Mirae Asset Portfolio Service, or MAPS, is designed to enable investors to trade conventional and digital assets in one place through their mobile devices.
As part of its global expansion strategy, Mirae Asset Securities has developed mobile trading platforms tailored to individual markets, including South Korea, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
The company said that MAPS integrates all those country-specific platforms into a single ecosystem, with Hong Kong serving as the initial testbed because of its status as Asia’s financial hub.
The firm added that Hong Kong is also attractive because it is rapidly evolving a regulatory framework for digital assets.
Toward that end, Mirae Asset Securities received final approval in April from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission for a retail digital asset license.
Going forward, Mirae Asset Securities plans to extend the new platform’s trading and investment services to other major markets such as the United States, South Korea, China, and Singapore.
“Since Mirae Asset established its securities unit in Hong Kong in 2007, this marks the first time in nearly two decades that it is rolling out a full-fledged business directly targeting retail customers here,” Mirae Asset Group founding Chairman Park Hyeon-joo said during the event.
“Starting in Hong Kong, we will move into Japan, the United States, and eventually markets around the world,” he added.
Established in 1997 by Chairman, Mirae Asset Group has grown into one of South Korea’s top financial conglomerates. Among its major subsidiaries are Mirae Asset Securities and Mirae Asset Global Investments.
The share price of Mirae Asset Securities jumped 8.2% on the Seoul bourse on Monday, while the benchmark KOSPI inched down 0.2%.