KOSPIFinance003530

Hanwha INVESTMENT&SECURITIES

₩4,670▲ 0.76%2026-10-02 close

Market Cap

₩1T

Turnover

₩4.2B

Volume

910,000 shares

Shares out.

210M

PER

13.7×

PBR

0.5×

EPS

₩373

Dividend Yield

0.00%

PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩0 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close

Report overview

Between a digital-asset bet and a turning brokerage cycle

After a sharp earnings recovery in 2025, first-half 2026 showed a surge in top-line but only limited operating profit growth, while the company's strategic center of gravity has shifted toward its Dunamu stake and a real-world-asset tokenization platform.

1
Consolidated 2025 operating profit was KRW 147.7bn with owners' net profit of KRW 102.0bn, a major recovery versus 2024 (operating profit of about KRW 4.0bn and net profit of KRW 38.9bn), extending the shift away from the 2022 net loss.
2
Second-quarter 2026 revenue jumped to KRW 3,234.6bn, yet operating profit was KRW 55.6bn and owners' net profit KRW 27.0bn, showing a clear gap between top-line and bottom-line.
3
It bought an additional Dunamu stake for KRW 597.8bn, lifting ownership to 9.84%; the end-June book value stood at KRW 1,506.8bn, about 7.3% of separate-basis total assets.
4
Under a 'Global No.1 real-world-asset hub' vision the firm is preparing to launch its Digital Asset Platform (DAP), with the timing of monetization and the pace of domestic regulation cited as the key variables.
5
No dividend has been paid since fiscal 2021, leaving a shareholder-return gap, while the first-half brokerage boom cooled abruptly as trading values plunged in the second half.

Business structure

Hanwha Investment & Securities is a mid-sized brokerage built around retail brokerage, wealth management (WM), investment banking (IB) and proprietary trading. Its equity base is far smaller than that of the mega-brokers, a structural constraint that makes rapid top-line growth from traditional businesses difficult.

Industry observers have repeatedly noted that mid-tier houses cannot close the competitive gap through capital scale alone.

At a December 2025 strategy meeting the company set out a 'Global No.1 real-world asset (RWA) hub' vision and concentrated company-wide resources on a digital asset business centered on real-world assets and security tokens, formally declaring a transition into a 'digital-asset specialist brokerage'.

The plan is to launch a proprietary Digital Asset Platform (DAP) and build a vertically integrated model linking tokenization of real assets through issuance, distribution and collateral finance.

To that end it invested KRW 10bn in blockchain data platform Xangle and about KRW 18bn in US Web3 infrastructure firm Kresus, and also took stakes in global RWA tokenization firm Securitize and US blockchain infrastructure firm Digital Asset.

Overseas, it intends to use its Indonesian, Singaporean and Vietnamese units as bases to source real assets such as real estate and infrastructure suited to on-chain issuance, building a staged 'digital silk road' structure, with the Singapore entity acting as the hub for digital-asset partnerships and overseas product sourcing.

On the balance sheet, unlisted equity holdings such as Dunamu and Toss Bank loom large, so equity capital moves directly with the value of those stakes as well as with core brokerage earnings.

Competitively it faces a two-front battle: large houses with dominant retail share in brokerage and WM, and those same large houses expanding into digital assets with overseas licenses.

Earnings trend

Quarterly revenue · Operating profit

₩889.6B₩37.7B25Q2₩469.4B₩37.7B25Q3₩898.6B₩25.2B25Q4₩1.7T₩29.6B26Q1₩3.2T₩55.6B26Q2

RevenueOperating profit

Annual revenue · Operating profit

₩2.1T₩34.4B2022₩2T₩31.5B2023₩2.5T₩4B2024₩3.1T₩147.7B2025

RevenueOperating profit

Quarterly results · Last 5 quarters
Quarter	Revenue	Operating profit	Op. margin
2025Q2	₩889.6B	₩37.7B	4.2%
2025Q3	₩469.4B	₩37.7B	8.0%
2025Q4	₩898.6B	₩25.2B	2.8%
2026Q1	₩1.7T	₩29.6B	1.8%
2026Q2	₩3.2T	₩55.6B	1.7%

Annual results
Year	Revenue	Operating profit	Net income (parent)	Op. margin	ROE	Debt-to-equity
2022	₩2.1T	₩34.4B	-₩54.9B	1.6%	−3.5%	678.6%
2023	₩2T	₩31.5B	₩9.3B	1.6%	0.6%	742.3%
2024	₩2.5T	₩4B	₩38.9B	0.2%	2.3%	721.6%
2025	₩3.1T	₩147.7B	₩102B	4.8%	4.9%	739.3%

Consolidated basis (financial statements including subsidiaries) · Final figures from DART filings · Net income attributable to owners of the parent · Data as of 2026-09-04

Earnings analysis

On an annual basis revenue expanded from KRW 2,114.3bn in 2022 to KRW 1,969.0bn in 2023, KRW 2,495.8bn in 2024 and KRW 3,094.6bn in 2025, while operating profit swung from KRW 34.4bn (2022) to KRW 31.5bn (2023), about KRW 4.0bn (2024) and KRW 147.7bn (2025) after bottoming in 2024.

Owners' net profit moved from a KRW 54.9bn loss in 2022 to KRW 9.3bn, KRW 38.9bn and KRW 102.0bn in 2023-2025, turning from loss to profit and then widening the recovery.

The operating margin rose from 0.2% in 2024 to 4.8% in 2025; the near-total erosion of margin in 2024 points to a period of heavy provisioning and cost burdens. In 2026, however, the gap between top-line and profit widened.

Quarterly revenue moved from KRW 889.6bn (2Q25), KRW 469.4bn (3Q25) and KRW 898.6bn (4Q25) to KRW 1,659.4bn (1Q26) and KRW 3,234.6bn (2Q26), yet operating profit over the same span was KRW 37.7bn, KRW 37.7bn, KRW 25.2bn, KRW 29.6bn and KRW 55.6bn, with owners' net profit at KRW 29.3bn, KRW 21.5bn, KRW 14.1bn, KRW 19.1bn and KRW 27.0bn.

This is a textbook illustration that brokerage revenue includes gross trading and derivative flows, so a revenue surge does not by itself signal better profitability. Owners' net profit in 2Q26 came in below the 2Q25 level of KRW 29.3bn, meaning higher operating profit did not fully translate into bottom-line growth.

A credit rating agency noted that first-quarter 2026 results absorbed incentive-related administrative costs and KRW 7.0bn of litigation expenses tied to China's CERCG.

On the balance sheet, equity grew from KRW 1,555.6bn in 2022 to KRW 2,068.2bn in 2025 while the debt-to-equity ratio rose from 678.6% to 739.3%, and operating cash flow was negative in each of 2023-2025 (minus KRW 728.4bn in 2025), reflecting persistent funding needs from expanding financial and investment assets.

Industry analysis

Korea's brokerage industry enjoyed an unusual boom in the first half of 2026 on surging market turnover. Average daily trading value jumped 81% from KRW 37tn in 4Q25 to KRW 67tn in 1Q26, and according to iM Securities, second-quarter average daily turnover reached roughly KRW 118tn.

The picture changed sharply in the second half. Korea Exchange data showed August average daily turnover on the main board at KRW 25.77tn, down 48.8% from June and 30.2% from July, the lowest level this year. Customer deposits also fell 30.8% from June 4 to KRW 96.7tn as of August 27.

Accordingly, FnGuide consensus points to third-quarter 2026 operating profit for the KOSPI securities sector of KRW 2,189.5bn, down 45.6% from KRW 4,027.5bn in the prior quarter, and Yuanta Securities assessed that sector earnings likely peaked in the second quarter given shrinking turnover.

Views on traditional IB are also cautious, with analysis pointing to tighter rules on duplicate listings, a delayed IPO recovery and high rates making a swift rebound in equity and debt capital markets unlikely.

By contrast, Shinhan Securities argued in a May 2026 sector outlook that the second half marks entry into a structural earnings-growth cycle rather than a temporary boom, with compounding capital sharpening differentiation in favor of larger houses.

In sum, views on the cycle diverge, and for a mid-sized house the structural challenge remains that as large brokers scale up on capital strength, it is hard to close the size gap through conventional securities operations alone.

Outlook

The company's next phase will likely hinge on execution timing in digital assets. Hanwha Investment & Securities is preparing a DAP that tokenizes hedge funds and private funds on-chain, targeting a launch no later than the first quarter of 2027.

At the CIS 2026 forum in April 2026, executive Son Jong-min unveiled a plan to start with private-market tokenization and restructure real estate, intellectual property and unlisted shares into digital form, naming high-net-worth clients as the initial target segment and citing the first quarter of 2027 for a global launch.

The company says its base revenue model is fees generated from issuing and distributing tokenized financial assets and from platform usage.

On the holdings side, Securitize is slated to list on Nasdaq in the second half of 2026 via a SPAC merger, and the proposed comprehensive share exchange between Dunamu and Naver Financial is flagged as another variable. Regulatory uncertainty remains, however.

Observers note that because the relevant framework is still being built, resolving regulatory uncertainty is a prerequisite for converting pre-emptively secured capabilities into actual revenue, and the firm's own research center identified the possible resumption of domestic digital-asset framework legislation and rule-making on exchanges, stablecoins and institutional participation as key variables.

In traditional businesses, Korea Ratings said improvement in earnings power is expected given a broader brokerage base, stronger acquisition finance in IB and selective project-finance underwriting, while adding that it will monitor how changes in the value of the Dunamu and Toss Bank stakes affect equity capital.

Valuation

PER

13.7×

PBR

0.5×

ROE

4.0%

EPS

₩373

BPS

₩10,362

Dividend per share

₩0

Valuation here is hard to reduce to a single multiple because traditional brokerage earnings and unlisted equity values are intertwined.

The shares trade below reported book value per share, which is not unrelated to the fact that a large share of equity derives from valuations of unlisted stakes that are not directly observable in the market.

Indeed, the KRW 2,158.6bn of financial assets measured at fair value through other comprehensive income at end-June was entirely classified as 'Level 3' in the fair value hierarchy, and the company applies methods such as discounted cash flow to value those unlisted holdings.

On earnings, recovery from the 2024 trough is evident and profit over the last four quarters sits well above the 2024 level, but quarterly net profit is volatile enough that extrapolating any single quarter is problematic.

As for dividends, none has been paid since fiscal 2021, leaving the stock behind dividend-paying listed brokers on yield, and running counter to a period in which larger houses expanded returns amid commercial code reform and separate taxation of dividend income.

Ultimately the crux of the valuation debate is structural: the earnings multiple tracks the pace of recovery in traditional operations, while the multiple against net assets tracks the marked value of the Dunamu and Toss Bank stakes.

PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are all calculated in-house (the same method as Naver and Toss) · Dividend yield = cash dividend per share from DART filings (supplemented by KRX) ÷ current price · As of 2026-09-04

Bull factors

Confirmed earnings recovery from the 2024 trough

Operating profit rose from about KRW 4.0bn in 2024 to KRW 147.7bn in 2025 and owners' net profit from KRW 38.9bn to KRW 102.0bn, lifting the operating margin from 0.2% to 4.8%. That marks a third consecutive year of profit after the KRW 54.9bn net loss of 2022.

Rating agencies also judged that given net profit improving from KRW 19.6bn in 2024 to KRW 100bn in 2025, the interest burden from borrowings is manageable. Operating profit of KRW 55.6bn in 2Q26 was the highest of the past five quarters.

Enlarged Dunamu stake and an early digital-asset value chain

The Dunamu stake was carried at KRW 1,506.8bn at end-June; in the first half the firm spent KRW 597.8bn on an additional 1,361,050 shares, raising ownership from 5.94% to 9.84%, while the marked value of the holding rose KRW 197.7bn during the half.

The first purchase in February 2021 was at roughly KRW 28,186 per share versus about KRW 439,252 for the latest tranche, leaving a large unrealized gain on the original tranche.

Analysts also noted that the combined book value of the Dunamu and Toss Bank holdings is around KRW 1.5tn, equivalent to a substantial portion of consolidated equity.

As digital-asset rules take shape, a stake portfolio spanning exchange, wallet, data and tokenization firms is an asset that differentiates it from other mid-sized peers.

Capital adequacy metrics still leave headroom

The firm's net capital ratio (NCR) stood at 835% at end-June 2026. NICE Investors Service projected that the adjusted net capital ratio would fall from 255% to 208% after the additional Dunamu investment, but judged the immediate credit impact limited since it remains above 200%.

It also assessed that sound capital adequacy should persist after the investment, with the adjusted net capital ratio staying above 200%. Retaining regulatory headroom right after a large cash outlay bears directly on room for further business expansion.

Bear factors

Surging top-line, limited profit growth

Second-quarter 2026 revenue of KRW 3,234.6bn was roughly double the KRW 1,659.4bn of the first quarter, yet operating profit rose only from KRW 29.6bn to KRW 55.6bn and owners' net profit from KRW 19.1bn to KRW 27.0bn. Notably, 2Q26 net profit came in below the KRW 29.3bn of 2Q25.

On a first-half cumulative basis operating profit was about KRW 85.2bn, only slightly more than half the KRW 147.7bn recorded for full-year 2025. Given that much of brokerage revenue is booked gross, the revenue line alone is a poor gauge of underlying improvement.

Plunging turnover and second-half headwinds

August average daily turnover on the main board fell 48.8% from June to KRW 25.77tn, the lowest level this year. iM Securities said shrinking turnover is raising uncertainty over the sustainability of earnings ahead.

Mid-sized houses have less capacity than large peers to diversify into WM and IB, so they can be more sensitive to swings in the brokerage cycle. Company results for 1Q26 already showed WM driving higher net operating revenue while weaker profitability in trading and IB pulled overall operating profit lower.

A long dividend drought and no shareholder returns

The company has paid no dividend since fiscal 2021, a fourth consecutive year without one, and no share cancellation was tabled at the general meeting either, so effectively no shareholder return was made.

It also opted for no dividend for fiscal 2025, with eligibility for separate taxation of dividend income cited as a factor.

Management's stance is that capital will be reinvested into a shift toward digital assets and on-chain trading rather than near-term shareholder returns, which contrasts with the practice of most listed brokers, which do pay dividends.

Risk factors

Concentration in unlisted stakes and capital volatility

Because the firm recognizes fair value changes in its Dunamu and Toss Bank stakes through other comprehensive income, capital adequacy metrics swing widely year to year, and analysts flagged that the high concentration of investment stakes relative to equity could pressure capital buffers and financial stability if investee valuations fall.

Korea Ratings said the purchase amount equals roughly 30% of equity, making some deterioration in capital adequacy unavoidable and further widening capital volatility tied to changes in the value of the holdings.

NICE Investors Service noted that Dunamu is sensitive to regulatory shifts such as whether corporate trading is permitted and the progress of digital-asset framework legislation. That the valuation sits at 'Level 3', using unobservable inputs, further reduces the predictability of the capital account.

Delayed monetization and regulation in digital assets

Industry views hold that the decisive question is whether pre-emptive groundwork such as the larger Dunamu stake, global RWA investments and DAP construction converts into actual products and revenue, with regulatory and market uncertainty remaining a live variable.

Domestically, with the possible resumption of digital-asset framework legislation in the second half, rule-making on exchanges, stablecoins and institutional participation is flagged as the key swing factor.

With the platform targeted for the first quarter of 2027, the intervening period may see costs recognized ahead of revenues. Large houses are entering the same space too, with Mirae Asset Securities securing a retail digital-asset license in Hong Kong, so any first-mover advantage could be diluted.

Financial leverage and funding burden

The debt-to-equity ratio rose from 678.6% in 2022 to 739.3% in 2025, and operating cash flow was negative for three straight years at minus KRW 1,102.4bn (2023), minus KRW 912.3bn (2024) and minus KRW 728.4bn (2025).

Korea Investors Service expected the burden of unmatched borrowings to grow on large investment and increased external funding, with capital ratios falling as total risk rose. The additional Dunamu purchase was settled entirely in cash. Should rates and funding conditions worsen, higher interest costs could offset the pace of earnings recovery.

What to watch next

Mid-October to mid-November 2026
Third-quarter 2026 results disclosure. With August average daily turnover on the main board down 48.8% from June, the key checks are how much the brokerage slowdown flows into operating and net profit, and how far WM and IB cushion it.
Fourth quarter of 2026
Whether Securitize completes its Nasdaq listing via SPAC merger under the planned ticker SECZ. The listing of an RWA tokenization firm in which it holds a stake could affect both the valuation of that holding and the shape of business cooperation.
Second half of 2026 to first half of 2027
Progress on the resumption of domestic digital-asset framework legislation and rule-making covering exchanges, stablecoins and institutional participation. The pace at which the regulatory outline forms will determine the feasible scope of tokenized products.
First quarter of 2027
The targeted launch window for the Digital Asset Platform (DAP), which the company has said will come no later than the first quarter of 2027. Since fees from issuance, distribution and platform usage of tokenized assets are the stated base revenue model, the actual launch and the initial asset classes handled will be the first yardstick for the monetization path.
March 2027
The annual general meeting for fiscal 2026. Whether the no-dividend stance maintained since fiscal 2021 continues, and whether any dividend or treasury-share item is tabled, will be the direct checkpoint for a change in shareholder-return policy.

Overall view

Hanwha Investment & Securities confirmed an earnings recovery out of its 2024 trough, posting 2025 operating profit of KRW 147.7bn and owners' net profit of KRW 102.0bn.

In the first half of 2026, however, revenue surged to KRW 3,234.6bn in the second quarter while operating profit stayed at KRW 55.6bn and net profit at KRW 27.0bn, leaving a clear gap between scale and profit.

On the industry side, the boom that lifted first-quarter average daily turnover to KRW 67tn reversed as August turnover collapsed to KRW 25.77tn, and brokerage houses now disagree on the second-half cycle.

Against that backdrop the company raised its Dunamu ownership from 5.94% to 9.84% and is preparing a vertically integrated platform linking tokenization, issuance, distribution and collateral finance, seeking a mid-tier breakout through digital assets.

The bull case rests on the earnings recovery, the unlisted equity portfolio and capital adequacy metrics that still leave headroom; the bear case rests on the slowing brokerage cycle, wider capital volatility from the stake purchase and a fourth straight year without a dividend.

In short, the resilience of traditional earnings and the timing of digital-asset monetization must be verified along separate axes, with third-quarter results, regulatory progress and the platform launch schedule serving as sequential checkpoints. This report is for information purposes only and contains no buy or sell opinion and no target price.

Sources

Korea Exchange (KRX) — Prices · Market Cap · Volume
FSS electronic disclosure system (DART) — Financial statements · Dividend filings

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Report written 2026-09-05 · Data as of 2026-09-04

This content is AI analysis of market data and web search results, provided for information only. It is not a solicitation or recommendation to invest. Investment decisions and their consequences are the investor's own responsibility. Data may be delayed or contain errors.