NH Investment & Securities President Yoon Byung-woon said in a New Year message on Thursday that the company should do its best to obtain approval for an Integrated Managed Account (IMA) and responsibly complete the process through a successful rollout.

Yoon said the IMA goes beyond a simple business expansion. He called it core infrastructure that links funds in the capital market to creative investment and boosts the dynamism of the economy.

Yoon said he was highlighting venture capital investment because the paradigm of the financial industry is changing. He said the industry is at a major turning point as the foundation of finance shifts from banks to capital markets.

Along with IMA approval, Yoon cited this year’s management direction as maximizing competitiveness in core businesses to build a sustainable profit structure and embedding artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities as an "essential element for survival".

On strengthening competitiveness in core businesses, Yoon said each division must clearly develop its own unrivaled strengths.

He called on the retail division to strengthen a stable profit structure by overwhelmingly expanding its customer and asset base. He also urged the investment banking division to build a solid revenue pipeline by expanding its network using ledger-based solutions.

For the asset management division, Yoon set the task of strategically integrating negotiable certificate of deposit and retirement pension management functions to maximize fund efficiency. He also called for broadening the investment spectrum to areas such as alternative assets and overseas private loans to complete profit capabilities.

Yoon called AI an engine that innovates the entire business model, from how work is done to decision-making processes. He said this year he will focus on bold execution that goes beyond simply adopting AI and redesigns all processes from an AI perspective.