Mirae Asset seeks Dublin expansion, AI

By Park Hyong-ki

Park Hyeon-joo, chairman of Mirae Asset

Naver founder Lee Hae-jin

Mirae Asset Daewoo, Korea’s biggest brokerage in terms of capital, is seeking to further expand overseas and boost its technological capacity through strategic partnerships, the company said.

It is considering setting up a global trading center in Dublin, Ireland later this year, along with a slew of financial companies looking to relocate there from London.

Early this year, Mirae Asset Financial Group Chairman Park Hyeon-joo shared his global vision with employees via an electronic letter, indicating his idea for the company’s trading centers overseas in places such as the United States and Europe.

Its consideration of the center in Dublin came as the company found that there were not many options in terms of location with benefits, it said.

Mirae Asset did not go for London, which is considered the global financial hub, because of Britain exiting the European Union, or Brexit.

“We saw there weren’t many options in Europe. The choice was London, Frankfurt or Dublin. We did not opt for London because of Brexit,” its spokesman said.

He noted that JPMorgan Chase is expanding in Dublin following Brexit.

Ireland has been attracting global financial players that have been operating in London to relocate to Dublin following London’s vote to leave the EU.

Germany has also been competing to lure financial companies to Frankfurt since the vote in June last year.

Dublin is known for offering lucrative tax benefits to foreign companies. Tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft have set up their European headquarters in Dublin.

However, Dublin has often been caught in the middle of U.S. political debates as those companies in the city hoard cash from retained earnings to avoid taxation at home.

JPMorgan has bought a building there. Mirae Asset Daewoo is also considering acquiring a building for its trading center in Dublin.

Mirae Asset’s Dublin plan follows its strategic partnership with Naver, Korea’s biggest search portal.

The two companies will join forces to develop and pursue a new digital business using emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.

This is part of efforts to help them better prepare for the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the spokesman said.

“To show our commitment to the partnership and agreement, we exchanged share, instead of just signing a memorandum of understanding,” he said.

Naver disclosed via a regulatory filing that it has invested 500 billion won for a 7.1 percent stake in Mirae Asset Daewoo. Mirae Asset Daewoo invested the same amount for a 1.7 percent stake in Naver.

Last year, the two companies launched a fund to invest in startups in areas such as AI, the internet of things and augmented reality.

Mirae Asset Daewoo provided 45 billion won, while Mirae Asset Capital chipped in 5 billion won for the fund. Naver invested 50 billion won in the fund.

Mirae Asset Capital has become the biggest shareholder with an 18.47 percent stake in Mirae Asset Daewoo after the merger of Mirae Asset Securities and Daewoo Securities late last year. Chairman Park owns Mirae Asset Capital, a venture capital fund.