Kyobo Life, Japan’s SBI to team up on security token, digital finance

South Korea’s Kyobo Life Insurance Group and Japan’s SBI Group have entered into a strategic business partnership agreement to expand their cooperation into the digital finance and technology sectors.

Under the partnership, the two companies have agreed to work together to curate their unique investment opportunities for clients and develop new digital finance technology infrastructure, Kyobo Life Insurance Co. said Thursday.

Kyobo Life and SBI Group have collaborated in the venture capital and fintech sectors since 2022. Such initiatives have included launching a venture capital fund in Southeast Asia.

Kyobo is Korea’s third-largest life insurer after market leader Samsung Life Insurance Co. and No. 2 player Hanwha Life Insurance Co.

SBI Group, also referred to as SBI Holdings, is a Tokyo-based financial services conglomerate whose subsidiaries include SBI Securities, SBI Shinsei Bank and SBI Investments.

The group provides financial services in an array of categories, including securities, asset management, banking and insurance and Internet-based digital financial services.

SECURITY TOKEN OFFERING

The Kyobo-SBI partnership will facilitate the exchange of technological capabilities and business know-how, as well as unlock new business opportunities in the digital space, the two companies said.

New business opportunities include the possible creation of a digital financial ecosystem in Korea and forming a consortium with other partners for the security token offering (STO) business.

An STO, or tokenized IPO, is a type of public offering in which tokenized digital securities, known as security tokens (STs), are sold in security token exchanges.

Tokens can be used to trade real financial assets such as equities and fixed income and use a blockchain virtual ledger system to store and validate token transactions.

Kyobo and SBI plan to leverage the partnership agreement to jointly identify opportunities in the issuance and distribution of STs and conduct joint research.

Kyobo Life said it expects the strategic partnership with SBI to benefit Kyobo Securities Co., which operates Kyobo Life Insurance Group’s STO business.

Kyobo Life Insurance Chairman and CEO Shin Chang-jae has been seeking partnerships with Kyobo’s overseas peers to bolster its presence in the digital sphere.

"This partnership with SBI is significant in that it aims to provide better products and services to customers in a timely manner by building a wider network in the digital finance sphere,” said a Kyobo Life official.

Write to Hyung-gyo Seo at seogyo@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.