Alliance will drive global business expansion as both partners work together to curate unique investment opportunities for clients and develop new technology infrastructure

Korea / Japan, 4 July 2024 – Korea’s Kyobo Life Insurance Group and Japan’s SBI Group announced today that both parties have entered a strategic business partnership agreement to strengthen the cooperation in digital finance and technology.

Since 2022, Kyobo Life Insurance and SBI Group have been collaborating in the venture capital and fintech sectors, including a venture capital fund in Southeast Asia.

This partnership between both companies will facilitate the exchange of technological capabilities and know-how across Kyobo Life Insurance Group and SBI Group, as well as unlock new business opportunities in the digital space for Kyobo Life Insurance Group and SBI Group. The business opportunities may include the creation of a domestic digital financial ecosystem in Korea and working with consortiums for Security Token Offering (STO) business.

Both Kyobo Life Insurance Group and SBI Group plan to leverage the partnership agreement to jointly identify opportunities in the issuance and distribution of ST and conduct joint research. STOs are issued based on specific assets and utilize blockchain technology to improve transparency and unlock accessibility to traditional investment products.

Business synergies may also be achieved with Kyobo Securities, which operates Kyobo Life Insurance Group’s STO business. To better respond and capture market opportunities in STOs, Kyobo Securities has been working on penetrating the STO market with a clear strategy established and dedicated task force in place. Kyobo Securities has been focused on ramping up the STO business to meet global standards through the promotion of a network consortium between securities companies.

About SBI Group (www.sbigroup.co.jp/english/)

SBI Group is a Japanese financial conglomerate across banking, insurance and securities and have overseas offices in 26 countries around the world.

About SBI Digital Asset Holdings (www.sbidah.com)

SBI Digital Asset Holdings (SBI DAH) oversees and operates digital asset-related businesses as part of SBI Holdings, Inc. SBI DAH aims to transform the financial industry by building a tech-enabled institutional grade ecosystem for issuance, distribution, advisory, custody, listing, and liquidity of digital assets (securities and crypto) through its key entities SBI Digital Markets, AsiaNext, SBI Zodia Custody, SBI Security Solutions and SBI DigiTrust. The company also has investments in portfolio companies that are important to the SBI DAH ecosystem including Sygnum, Blockdaemon and Tangem, among others.

About Kyobo Life Insurance Group

Kyobo Life Insurance Group was founded in 1958 as the first provider of education insurance products in the world. It is the only life insurer amongst the “Big 3” that purely focuses on financial services with transparent corporate governance. Kyobo Life is a Korea’s leading life insurer with the highest ratings among Korean life insurers from established global rating agencies. Kyobo Life Insurance Group consists of Kyobo Life Insurance and its 13 subsidiaries including Kyobo Securities.