Kang Jin-doo and Lee Hong-goo, co-CEOs of KB Securities, said in a New Year message on Thursday that the capital market this year will see uncertainty amid dynamic change and geoeconomic fragmentation. They said they would protect client assets amid the waves of change and make this a year of “change and leap” by turning it into a growth opportunity.

The two CEOs presented four directions as the core of their 2026 management strategy: customer trust and consumer protection, transformation and expansion across all business divisions, stronger global competitiveness and AI-based work innovation.

They first named “customer trust” as the top value.

They stressed that the overarching principle for all business expansion should be to put customer rights and interests first. They said they would upgrade a preventive system using AI technology to build a digital internal control environment without incidents. They also signaled their intent to let employees focus on their core work and provide financial services trusted by customers.

By business division, they laid out a specific roadmap for qualitative growth. In the WM, or wealth management, division, they called for evolution into a “No. 1 asset growth-oriented investment platform” through innovation in the pension business and upgrades to the M-able platform.

In the IB, or investment banking, division, they called for strengthening leadership in DCM, or debt capital markets, and IPOs, while identifying strong mid-sized and venture firms to expand the supply of venture capital. They also called on the wholesale and capital markets groups to respond preemptively to market volatility and broaden their business scope.

In the global business, they raised “capital-efficient growth” as a key theme.

They said they would use the Mumbai office in India, which opened last year, as a strategic foothold to expand new businesses such as M&A. They also said they would strengthen cooperation with U.S. asset manager Apollo to build a stronger presence in the global acquisition finance market.

In AI, which they called the core of future competitiveness, they declared “actualization.” They plan to apply AI across work processes, led by the company’s internal generative AI, “Kkaebi AI,” to raise productivity and roll out innovative services that customers can feel, including hyper-personalized financial products.