Major fintech firms posted strong results in the first half of the year. Revenue and profit rose on growth in payments and financial services, while momentum continued in overseas payments and new businesses.

Hecto Financial posted first-half consolidated revenue of 107.6 billion won and operating profit of 13.7 billion won, up 18.9 percent and 83.5 percent from a year earlier, marking a record for a half-year period.

In the second quarter, revenue rose 12.6 percent to 50.1 billion won and operating profit increased 20.2 percent to 4.6 billion won. Growth in existing payment services and its cross-border settlement business drove the results.

Kakao Pay posted second-quarter revenue of 335.1 billion won, operating profit of 58.6 billion won and net profit of 49.6 billion won. Revenue, operating profit and net profit each hit a quarterly record.

Danal said first-half WeChat Pay offline QR payment transaction value rose 62.7 percent from a year earlier, marking an all-time high.

An increase in Chinese tourists visiting South Korea and greater convenience store use drove the rise in transaction value. It has recently been expanding its overseas payment business through unmanned stores, prepaid cards for foreigners and tuition payment for international students.

Thailand mobile financial platform Line BK also said its first-half customer count rose 12 percent from a year earlier to above 8.8 million, while loan customers increased 15 percent to 931,000.

• Hecto Financial sets new first-half record... pushes new stablecoin and AI payment infrastructure businesses • Kakao finance performs well... Bank and Pay post record results, expands into corporate, securities and insurance • KakaoBank first-half net profit 328.0 billion won... up 24.4 percent year on year • Kakao Pay second-quarter operating profit 58.6 billion won... up 528 percent year on year • Danal first-half WeChat Pay payment value up 62.7 percent... record high • Line BK Thailand customers 8.8 million... up 12 percent in first half

Payment companies are moving beyond simply providing payment methods and expanding payment touchpoints across daily life, including merchants, local currency and transport. Competition is intensifying not only over how many payment networks they secure, but also over linking payments naturally within services consumers use often.

GLN International, linked with Seoul Pay, expanded domestic QR payment merchants available to foreign tourists to about 1.5 million together with Coocon. Toss Place is also linking local love gift certificates to its own payment terminals and connecting them to corporate expense management, expanding the use of offline payment infrastructure into the B2B area. Tmoney combined Samsung Wallet with the K-Pass to enable transport fare refunds without a separate affiliate card, improving payment convenience.

Individual fintech firms are also strengthening strategies to expand customer touchpoints by bundling payments with other daily services. Toss Mobile's combination of a 'Face Pay' coupon with mobile plans can be seen as an attempt to link telecom users to payment services. Toss is also expanding offline brand exposure beyond its online financial platform through an additional station name at Sinnonhyeon Station.

As businesses scale up, the burden of managing soundness is also rising. Travel Wallet faces a capital-raising task to meet capital ratio standards as foreign-currency prepaid balances exceeded 400.0 billion won due to an increase in users.

• Toss signs Sinnonhyeon Station additional station name contract... through August 2029 • GLN International links with Seoul Pay... expands QR payment merchants to 1.5 million • Toss Place and Bizplay cooperate to expand local love gift certificate payments • Tmoney and Samsung Electronics launch 'Samsung Wallet Tmoney K-Pass' • Toss Mobile launches 'Face Pay partnered plan'... from 8,000 won per month • Travel Wallet faces 'capital-raising task'... IPO next year all set?

Some signs of adjustment are emerging in loan regulations that have continued at a high intensity. Still, the move is closer to supplementing regulations around areas of real demand, such as existing contract holders and regions outside the Seoul metropolitan area, rather than loosening the overall household debt management stance.

Financial authorities are reviewing a plan to exclude some remaining-balance loans for pre-sale contract holders before the June 27 measures from each bank's total household loan cap.

In mutual finance, calls are also growing to operate household loan regulations more flexibly outside the Seoul metropolitan area after tighter PF loan rules.

Overall volume controls in the banking sector continue. Hana Bank has moved to control the pace of household loan growth, including temporarily suspending new non-face-to-face mortgage lending.

• Mutual finance blocked on PF... 'Need to ease non-metropolitan rules to expand inclusive finance' • After tax revision comes loan rule overhaul... loosen remaining balances, tighten jeonse • Hana Bank temporarily suspends new non-face-to-face mortgages... tightens volume controls • Banksalad revamps loan management screen... presents ways to cut interest

Brokerages face the task of securing growth engines in the second half as share prices fail to keep pace despite strong results. Profit at major brokerages jumped in the second quarter, but there is an assessment that brokerage-led growth has limits due to falling trading value and increased market volatility.

Brokerages are strengthening non-brokerage businesses such as wealth management, short-term notes and pensions as they diversify profit structures. Platform brokerages such as Toss Securities, Kakao Pay Securities and Kiwoom Securities see the pension market, worth about 700 trillion won, as a key market to secure long-term customers and assets under management, and are expanding their push.

In the IPO market, changes are expected in subsidiary listing strategies as regulations on duplicate listings tighten. For subsidiaries spun off through physical division, procedures to protect minority shareholders are being strengthened, including requiring parent company shareholder consent, raising the bar for so-called 'piecemeal listings'.

• Share prices lag results... what is the second-half reversal card for brokerage stocks? • Higher bar for 'piecemeal listings'... subsidiary IPO landscape to change • Platform brokerages launch major offensive on 700 trillion won pension market beyond brokerage

Other major moves in finance and fintech are summarised below.

In banking, efforts continued on future security and fostering digital talent. KB Kookmin Bank is conducting joint research with quantum-resistant cryptography specialist KeyPair to strengthen its response framework to security threats from advances in quantum computing.

Shinhan Bank signed agreements with Yonsei University and others to expand AI and digital education and research programmes for teenagers, moving to strengthen the digital capabilities of future generations.

• KB Kookmin Bank prepares response framework to quantum computing security threats • Shinhan Bank expands AI and digital education for teenagers... signs agreement with Yonsei University and others

Moves to broaden the role of finance also continued. Hana Financial Group named Vice Chairman Seung-yeol Lee (이승열) as chief inclusive finance officer (CIFO) to strengthen group-level management, and Woori Bank is pushing financial support worth 400.0 billion won for the Gochang offshore wind power project in North Jeolla Province as it moves to expand productive finance targeting renewable energy and regional industry.

• Hana Financial Group names Vice Chairman Seung-yeol Lee inclusive finance CIFO... strengthens group management system • Woori Bank supports productive finance for North Jeolla Gochang offshore wind power

IBK Industrial Bank of Korea expanded financial support for mid- and low-credit borrowers and small and medium-sized firms. For individual customers, it launched 'i-ONE Haetsal Loan special guarantee' with an annual interest rate of 6.0 percent, and it will provide fixed-rate loans totalling 1.0 trillion won to mid- and low-credit SMEs.

Suhyup Bank jointly developed the corporate credit analysis platform 'PRISM' with Korea Credit Data to build a basis for more precise analysis of the financial soundness and potential risks of unlisted companies not subject to external audits.

• IBK Industrial Bank of Korea launches 6.0 percent 'i-ONE Haetsal Loan special guarantee' • IBK Industrial Bank of Korea provides 1.0 trillion won fixed-rate loans to mid- and low-credit SMEs • Suhyup Bank and Korea Credit Data jointly develop corporate credit analysis platform 'PRISM'

Internet banks and fintech firms moved to upgrade services using AI and platform functions. Kakao Pay introduced 'AI Coach' to help with spending analysis and budget management, and KakaoBank will offer up to a 0.5 percentage point preferential interest rate to customers comparing credit loans.

K Bank introduced 'agentic AI' to support the entire development process, focusing on improving internal development productivity and work efficiency.

• Kakao Pay launches 'AI Coach' to help with spending analysis and budget management • KakaoBank offers up to 0.5 percentage point preferential rate to credit loan comparison customers • K Bank introduces 'agentic AI' supporting the full development process

In the B2B fintech sector, expansion of AI and data-driven businesses continued. Cooperation continued for AX transformation in business trip and expense management, distribution of information services and discovering new data-based businesses.

• Coocon and NICE Information Service cooperate on information service distribution and data new businesses • Bizplay and BQAI cooperate on AX for business trip and expense management