KakaoPay Securities said on Wednesday its deposit assets had surpassed 15 trillion won.

Deposit assets are a key indicator showing the scale of customer assets held, including the valuation of domestic and overseas stocks, cash balances in won and foreign currencies, funds, pensions and ISAs. It rose 224 percent from a year earlier and 31.2 percent from the start of the year, about 3 months after surpassing 10 trillion won in January.

The company said the increase was driven more by actual inflows of funds than by market gains. Net inflows in the first quarter totaled 3.668 trillion won, and net purchases of domestic and overseas stocks were tallied at 3.6202 trillion won.

By asset class, domestic stocks posted a marked increase. Domestic stock assets rose 94 percent from when deposit assets surpassed 10 trillion won to 6.5323 trillion won.

The share of domestic stocks also expanded to 44.2 percent as of April from 33.6 percent when it topped 10 trillion won. It reflects a trend of broadening beyond a platform centered on overseas stocks to include domestic stocks and expanding into a comprehensive investment platform.

Growth in tax-saving accounts was also notable. Pension savings assets rose 58 percent from January, and ISA assets launched in November last year increased about fourfold over the same period. The share of pension savings and ISAs in total deposit assets also rose to 7.6 percent from 5.5 percent.

The user base also expanded. Monthly active users rose to 4.02 million in March from 3.65 million in January. Cumulative new users from the start of the year through April also stood at about 340,000.

KakaoPay Securities CEO Hocheol Shin (신호철) said, "Surpassing 15 trillion won in deposit assets means growth in users and the platform is accelerating together," adding, "We aim to achieve 20 trillion won in deposit assets within this year and will continue to strengthen the investment experience and product competitiveness in line with users' asset-building stages."