Hecto Financial is sustaining growth centred on its high-margin simple cash payment business. New businesses such as cross-border settlement, stablecoins and AI agent payments could act as additional growth drivers, a brokerage analysis showed. It said stable earnings from existing payment businesses are being joined by growth potential from new businesses, but the value of the new businesses is not reflected in the current target price because the timing of related institutionalisation and monetisation is uncertain.

On Nov. 13, Heungkuk Securities began company coverage of Hecto Financial and presented an investment rating of "buy" and a target price of 23,000 won.

In a report titled "A strong core business, expanding payments territory", Heungkuk Securities analyst Jun-seok Yoo (유준석) said diversified existing payment businesses provide a stable profit base, while new growth drivers such as cross-border settlement, stablecoins and AI agent payments are being added, giving it high growth potential.

Hecto Financial's revenue in the third quarter this year was 52.6 billion won, up 14.9 percent from a year earlier. Operating profit rose 6.2 percent to 4.8 billion won.

By business, revenue from PG services rose 14.1 percent to 25.0 billion won. Simple cash payment revenue increased 12.5 percent to 12.0 billion won, helped by a rising share of its high-margin, membership-based service called "Naetongjang Payment". Other revenue, including cross-border settlement, was tallied at 8.0 billion won, up 42.0 percent.

Heungkuk Securities pointed in particular to the expanding share of its own high-margin services in the simple cash payment business. Yoo said simple cash payment revenue has stayed in the 10.0 billion won range since the third quarter of last year, and he expects profit contribution to widen as high-margin services lead growth.

In new businesses, expansion of a global payment network was cited as a key growth factor. Hecto Financial joined Circle's payment network CPN as a partner in February this year and recently participated in the ecosystem of OpenUSD (OUSD), a dollar-based stablecoin infrastructure. It has completed a proof of concept for AI agent payments and is also pursuing participation in the payment protocol x402 ecosystem and cooperation with t54 Labs.

Yoo said the timing of stablecoin legislation in South Korea is uncertain, but the company is moving into areas that are possible with its current infrastructure, which he expects will enable a fast response when the market opens.

He added that there is room to raise the valuation of Hecto Financial if institutionalisation related to stablecoins advances and revenue from new businesses becomes visible.