🔥 Kiwoom Securities, Mixed Signals from 5% Commercial Paper and Unpaid Balances - 2026.09.07

Well, well~ From Onion’s perspective, the key point for Kiwoom Securities today is that the 5% commercial paper offer drawing in new customers and the unpaid balances remaining after forced liquidation appeared on the same screen. One is a card for expanding retail, while the other is a figure showing the burden on retail. Opportunity and risk have emerged simultaneously at the same customer touchpoint.

🔥 A New-Customer Acquisition Card: Special Commercial Paper Offer

Kiwoom Securities is reported to be selling a special commercial paper offering from September 7 for customers opening an account for the first time in their lives, with a one-year maturity and a pre-tax annual rate of 5% ^[1]. It can be read as retail sales material aimed at securing customers’ first accounts and subsequently connecting them to trading and wealth management.

What matters here is not simply one interest-rate figure. Commercial paper was explained as being available to securities firms with equity capital of 4,000,000,000,000 KRW, and Kiwoom Securities introduced this product as a means of attracting new customers ^[1]. This is not a business that ends the moment an account is opened; the next scene depends on how long customers remain at trading touchpoints such as Hero. The first button is fastened with the interest rate, and the key question is whether a structure linking it to trading and wealth management can be created. Exactly, exactly! Still, the special-offer benefit itself does not immediately mean improved profitability.

📈 The Commercial Paper Market: Competition from New Entrants Is Heating Up

The number of participants in the commercial paper market grew from four to seven as Kiwoom Securities, Hana Securities, and Shinhan Securities received approval at the end of last year. Reports also said that the three new entrants’ outstanding commercial paper balance totaled 3,105,200,000,000 KRW at the end of June, accounting for 5.6% of the total ^[2]. The market is expanding as new operators compete to attract and deploy funds.

For Kiwoom Securities, this special offer can serve as a device to broaden its customer base after entering the market, while also becoming a price tag in the battle for funds against competitors. Of course, an increase in outstanding commercial paper does not automatically mean that the company’s results or share-price trend will improve. The scale of fundraising, costs, investment results, and whether special-offer customers remain actual trading customers must all be checked together.

☕ Unpaid Balances Remaining After Forced Liquidation Are the Opposite Signal

The principal amount of unpaid balances from forced liquidations during January–July this year was calculated at 37,795,750,000 KRW, and reports said that 21,931,070,000 KRW occurred during the two months of June and July. Among these, Kiwoom Securities’ unpaid principal amounted to 20,685,040,000 KRW, the largest among the securities firms used for comparison ^[3].

This figure has a completely different tone from the news about attracting new customers. Since Kiwoom Securities has a large base of trading customers, the cause cannot be determined from a simple size comparison alone. Still, it is clear that customers unable to repay their debts even after forced liquidation have emerged as a burden on the retail business. This is why the pace of acquiring new customers and customers’ credit and risk management must move together. When you borrow money to trade, forced liquidation comes calling as an unwelcome guest. Even its name is the opposite, so the mood is quite the opposite too.

Kiwoom Securities closed at ₩272,000 on September 7, up +0.55% from the previous trading day. The market can be seen as digesting both the expansionary factor of the special commercial paper offer and the burden of unpaid balances at the same time. Onion views this development as a bullish scenario in which new-customer acquisition and competition in fund management are intertwined. However, just as aggressive investors react quickly to macro tailwinds, here their attention will first turn to the figures for the quality of customer inflows and management of unpaid balances. The remaining questions are whether the special offer will lead beyond account numbers to actual trading and wealth management, and how much burden Kiwoom Securities can manage amid intensifying commercial paper competition.

📰 Reference News (3)

1

Kiwoom Securities Launches Special Pre-Tax 5% Annual Commercial Paper Offer for First-Time Customers

네이버뉴스 · 2026.09.07

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2

Commercial Paper Market Expands… Securities Firms Heat Up Competition to Attract and Manage Funds

네이버뉴스 · 2026.09.07

📰 View original