kakaopay Stock price
📊 Peer Group
📈 What is it?
The peer group consists of the companies with the most similar business model. They serve as a benchmark for putting a stock into context.
🧮 How is it selected?
Based on similarity of business model, meaning companies from the same industry with comparable products and a similar customer base. That's the only way to compare apples to apples.
🏛️ Why does it matter?
Whether a stock is cheap or expensive is best judged by comparison. A P/E of 18 or an EV/FCF of 20 can look cheap or expensive depending on the yardstick. The peer group gives you the most accurate one: companies with a similar business model that operate under the same conditions.
🎯 What does it mean for investors?
When a metric sits below the peer average, the stock is valued more cheaply relative to its competitors, and above the average more expensively. A discount to the peer group can be an opportunity, but it can also have a reason (for example lower growth). The comparison is a starting point, not a verdict.
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Key metrics
📘 Market Capitalization
📈 What is it?
Market capitalization shows how much a company is currently worth on the stock market.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps classify companies by size (Large, Mid, Small Cap) and indicates their market presence and relative stability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Large-cap companies tend to be more stable, often pay dividends, but may grow more slowly.
- Smaller firms may offer higher growth potential but come with more volatility.
- Market capitalization is a useful indicator of company size — but not a measure of whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.
📘 Enterprise Value (EV)
📈 What is it?
Enterprise Value represents the total cost to acquire a company — including its debt and excluding its cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(= Market Cap + Net Debt)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV gives a more complete picture of a company's value than market cap alone and is used in key valuation ratios like EV/FCF or EV/Sales.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Enterprise Value shows the true cost of buying a company, including all financial obligations.
- It is more accurate than just looking at market cap, especially when comparing companies with different levels of debt or cash.
- Professional investors prefer EV-based multiples because they better reflect the company’s full financial footprint.
📘 Net Debt
📈 What is it?
Net Debt shows how much debt remains after subtracting a company’s available cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It indicates how dependent a company is on borrowed money and how easily it can service its debt in the short term.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low or negative net debt signals financial strength and flexibility.
- Companies with strong cash positions are better positioned in crises.
- High net debt increases financial risk — especially in environments with rising interest rates or economic downturns.
📘 Cash
📈 What is it?
Cash represents all liquid assets a company can access immediately — including cash, bank deposits, and short-term investments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It reflects a company’s financial flexibility and resilience — enabling investments, buybacks, or buffer in downturns.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A strong cash position means greater room for maneuver and crisis resistance.
- Cash-rich companies can invest, pay down debt, or repurchase shares.
- But excess idle cash might indicate a lack of growth opportunities.
📘 Shares Outstanding
📈 What is it?
Shares outstanding represent the total number of a company’s shares currently held by investors — excluding treasury stock.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s the basis for key metrics like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Market Capitalization, or the Price/Earnings ratio (P/E).
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Fewer shares in circulation typically increase earnings per share — making each share more valuable.
- Share buybacks reduce the number of shares and boost per-share metrics.
- Issuing new shares does the opposite — diluting shareholder value and lowering per-share figures.
📘 Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)
📈 What is it?
The P/E ratio shows how many times a company's earnings per share are reflected in its current share price — in other words, how "expensive" the stock appears relative to its profits.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The P/E ratio is one of the most widely used valuation metrics. It helps investors assess whether a stock appears cheap or expensive compared to its earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
📊 P/E (TTM) = Based on earnings from the last 12 months (Trailing Twelve Months):🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/E may indicate undervaluation — or signal underlying issues.
- A high P/E may reflect strong growth expectations — or an overvalued stock.
📘 Price-to-Sales Ratio (P/S)
📈 What is it?
The P/S ratio shows how much investors are paying for $1 of the company’s revenue – regardless of profitability.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/S is especially useful for evaluating growth companies or businesses not yet profitable. It reflects how the market values the company’s sales.
🧮 Calculation
Market Cap = ₩6.35t | Revenue (TTM) = ₩1.14t
Market Cap = ₩6.35t | Estimated Revenue = ₩1.28t
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/S may indicate undervaluation — or low profitability.
- A high P/S can reflect strong growth expectations — or excessive optimism.
- Especially helpful when evaluating companies where profits are low, volatile, or negative.
📘 Enterprise Value to Sales (EV/Sales)
📈 What is it?
EV/Sales shows how much investors are paying for $1 of revenue — considering not just equity, but also debt and cash. It’s the capital structure–adjusted version of the P/S ratio.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s ideal for comparing companies with different levels of debt. It reflects a company's true cost relative to its revenue.
🧮 Calculation
Enterprise Value = ₩318.38b | Revenue (TTM) = ₩1.14t
Enterprise Value = ₩318.38b | Forward Revenue = ₩1.28t
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EV/Sales allows for capital structure–neutral company comparisons.
- A lower ratio may indicate undervaluation; a higher one may signal strong growth expectations or overvaluation.
- Especially helpful when evaluating high-growth companies with low or negative earnings.
📘 Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow (EV/FCF)
📈 What is it?
EV/FCF shows how many years it would take for a company to "pay back" its enterprise value using its free cash flow.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It focuses on real cash generation, ignoring accounting noise — ideal for assessing profitability and value based on liquidity, not earnings.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low EV/FCF may signal undervaluation and strong cash generation.
- A high EV/FCF might reflect weak recent cash flow or aggressive growth expectations.
- Best suited for stable, mature businesses with predictable free cash flows.
📘 Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B)
📈 What is it?
The P/B ratio compares a company’s market value to its book value — showing how much investors are paying for each dollar of net assets.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/B is commonly used for asset-heavy industries like banks or industrials. It helps assess whether a stock is trading above or below its net asset value.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A P/B below 1 may signal undervaluation — or weak profitability.
- A P/B above 1 implies the market expects future value creation (e.g., brand, IP, growth).
- Best used for companies with tangible assets and strong balance sheets.
📘 Equity Ratio
📈 What is it?
The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Companies with high equity ratios are generally more resilient and less dependent on external debt.
- Low equity ratios can signal higher risk or aggressive financial strategies.
- Important: Always assess the equity ratio in combination with the return on equity (ROE). This shows not just how stable the company is – but also how efficiently it uses shareholder capital.
📘 Return on Equity (ROE)
📈 What is it?
Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROE indicates that the company is using its capital efficiently and profitably.
- It’s especially meaningful for capital-intensive businesses or firms with high equity bases.
- Important: A very high ROE can also result from high debt levels – always interpret it alongside the equity ratio to assess financial health.
📘 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
📈 What is it?
ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It evaluates the return on all capital employed, regardless of how it’s financed.
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROCE means the company uses its capital efficiently – regardless of whether it's funded by debt or equity.
- The higher the ROCE compared to peers, the more value the company creates with its invested capital.
- Especially relevant for capital-intensive sectors like industrials, energy, or infrastructure.
📘 Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
📈 What is it?
ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
- NOPAT = Net Operating Profit After Taxes
- Invested Capital = Operating assets minus non-interest-bearing liabilities
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROIC shows how effectively a company uses the capital that is truly invested in its core operations.
- Unlike ROCE, ROIC focuses only on the capital that is actively used to run the business – and that requires a return (i.e. interest-bearing).
- Especially useful when comparing companies with large amounts of excess cash or non-interest-bearing liabilities – giving a more realistic picture of capital efficiency.
📘 Leverage Ratio (Debt-to-Equity)
📈 What is it?
The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low leverage ratio signals financial strength and independence.
- A higher ratio can improve returns in good times but increases risk during downturns or rising interest rate periods.
- 👉 Always interpret in the context of industry, capital intensity, and interest rate environment.
📘 Revenue
📈 What is it?
Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing revenue indicates rising demand and can be an early signal of future earnings growth.
- Comparing actual and expected revenue reveals trends in the market environment and analyst sentiment.
- Note: Strong revenue alone isn’t enough – margins and profitability matter just as much.
📘 EBITDA
📈 What is it?
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high or growing EBITDA indicates strong operational profitability – independent of taxes, interest, or accounting methods.
- It’s especially useful for comparing companies across sectors or geographies.
- Important: EBITDA is not a net income figure – it excludes key costs like depreciation and interest.
📘 EBIT
📈 What is it?
EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT indicates strong profitability from the company’s core business – before financial and tax effects.
- It allows better comparison between companies with different debt levels or tax structures.
- Compared to EBITDA, EBIT already accounts for depreciation and reflects capital intensity more clearly.
📘 Net Income
📈 What is it?
Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing net income indicates that the company is managing all of its costs efficiently.
- It directly influences valuation metrics like P/E ratio and the company’s dividend capacity.
- Over time, net income trends reveal how resilient and profitable the business model really is.
📘 Free Cash Flow (FCF)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow shows how much actual cash remains after a company covers its operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF reflects a company’s real financial strength – regardless of accounting profits. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High free cash flow means the company generates real, usable cash – independent of reported net income.
- It’s often the most reliable base for sustainable dividends and buybacks.
- Declining FCF can be an early warning sign – even when profits appear stable.
📘 Revenue Growth
📈 What is it?
Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected revenue ÷ Revenue in prior year − 1) × 100
Forward growth is based on analyst estimates for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growth is the engine of long-term value creation – especially in tech and growth sectors.
- What matters is not just current growth, but its sustainability.
- Forward projections reflect whether analysts expect continued momentum – or a slowdown.
📘 EBITDA Growth
📈 What is it?
EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBITDA ÷ EBITDA from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Strong EBITDA growth signals operational efficiency and scalability – especially during growth phases.
- EBITDA growth can be an early indicator of margin and earnings expansion – but should be assessed alongside revenue and EBIT.
📘 EBIT Growth
📈 What is it?
EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBIT ÷ EBIT from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Rising EBIT signals improving operating profitability – even after accounting for depreciation.
- It’s especially important for evaluating companies with significant capital expenditures.
- Combined with revenue and EBITDA growth, EBIT growth provides a well-rounded view of operational progress.
📘 Net Income Growth
📈 What is it?
Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected net income ÷ Net income from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate reflects analysts’ expectations for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stronger net income boosts valuation, dividend potential, and investor confidence.
- If profits stall while revenue grows, it may signal margin pressure.
📘 Free Cash Flow Growth
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Declining FCF may point to rising investments, increasing costs, or weaker operating performance.
- Especially for dividend investors, FCF growth is critical – since dividends are paid from actual available cash.
- A negative trend isn't always bad, but it deserves closer attention.
📘 Gross Margin
📈 What is it?
Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Or simply: Gross Margin = Gross Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high gross margin suggests strong pricing power and efficient production.
- Falling margins may signal rising input costs or competitive pressure.
- Compared to peers, gross margin offers insights into the quality of a business model.
📘 EBITDA Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBITDA margin reflects strong core profitability – before accounting distortions.
- It allows for effective comparisons across companies and sectors.
- A stable or growing margin signals efficient cost control and business scalability.
📘 EBIT Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT margin shows that the company remains efficient even after factoring in depreciation.
- It’s especially relevant for capital-intensive industries.
- Stable or rising EBIT margins over time are a strong indicator of pricing power and business quality.
📘 Net margin
📈 What is it?
Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high net margin means the company is not only strong operationally but also manages financing and taxes efficiently.
- Peer comparisons reveal business quality and competitiveness.
- Declining margins despite revenue growth can be a red flag for rising costs or inefficiencies.
📘 Free cash flow margin
📈 What is it?
The free cash flow (FCF) margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as actual free cash after covering all operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This margin reflects the true liquidity generated by the business – independent of accounting rules or depreciation. It’s especially relevant for dividends, buybacks, and reinvestment decisions.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high FCF margin means a company consistently generates strong cash flow.
- It’s a positive signal for financial stability and shareholder returns.
- The long-term trend is key – a declining margin may indicate rising investments or weakening operating efficiency.
📘 Earnings per share (EPS)
📈 What is it?
Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The diluted share count reflects potential new shares that could be issued through options, convertible bonds, or other rights.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EPS captures per-share profitability and is especially useful for comparisons over time or with analyst estimates.
- Rising EPS may signal consistent growth or share buybacks.
- Important: Always use diluted EPS for more realistic valuations – especially in companies with stock-based compensation.
📘 Free cash flow per share (FCF per share)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures (CapEx).
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High FCF per share signals strong financial flexibility.
- It shows how much capital the company can effectively reinvest or return to shareholders.
- Particularly relevant for dividend payers and capital-efficient businesses.
📘 Short interest
📈 What is it?
Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It reflects the percentage of a company’s shares that are being shorted relative to the total shares available.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low short interest usually indicates market confidence in the company.
- High short interest can be a warning sign – or an opportunity if sentiment shifts.
- Especially relevant in volatile markets or ahead of key earnings releases.
📘 Employees
📈 What is it?
The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high headcount can signal operational complexity – but also significant growth capacity.
- Revenue per employee is a key indicator of efficiency.
- Especially useful for comparing tech, industrial, or service-heavy companies.
📘 Turnover per employee
📈 What is it?
Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The employee count is typically taken from the most recent annual report.
🏛️ Why is it important?
This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high revenue per employee indicates a scalable and margin-strong business model.
- A low figure may reflect labor-intensive operations or lower value-add.
- Especially helpful when comparing tech companies to industrial or service sectors.
kakaopay Stock Analysis
Analyst Opinions
18 Analysts have issued a kakaopay forecast:
Analyst Opinions
18 Analysts have issued a kakaopay forecast:
kakaopay Events
Past Events
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MAY
6
Q1 2026 Earnings Call
4 months ago
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FEB
6
Q4 2025 Earnings Call
7 months ago
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NOV
4
Q3 2025 Earnings Call
11 months ago
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StocksGuide Free
kakaopay — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, and good evening. Thank you all for joining the conference call for the Kakao Pay earnings results. This conference will start with a presentation followed by a Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] Now we will begin the presentation on Kakao Pay's First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2026 Earnings Results.
[Interpreted] Good afternoon. This is Allen, CEO of Kakao Pay. Thank you all for joining our company's first quarter 2026 earnings call. I will begin with key metrics, including TPV, consolidated operating revenue and expense, P&L followed by key business highlights for Q1 of 2026. First, on key metrics for the first quarter of '26.
Q1 '26 TPV was up 15% year-over-year, reaching beyond KRW 50 trillion for the first time in a quarter, reporting KRW 50.9 trillion. Revenue TPV was also up 15% year-on-year to KRW 14.6 trillion, achieving growth in both in terms of volume and quality. Underpinned by TPV growth, Q1 consolidated revenue increased 42% year-on-year to KRW 300.3 billion, while Payment, Financial Services and Platform reported more than a double-digit growth across the board. We saw steep growth of 82% year-on-year from financial services in particular, which now accounts for 49% of total revenue.
Operating profit in Q1 was KRW 32.2 billion, yet again rewriting quarterly record. EBITDA was KRW 40.8 billion and net profit came in at KRW 34.7 billion, driving OP margin of 10.7% and net income margin of 11.6% both posting a double-digit profit rate at the same time, which is a noteworthy result.
Next is on business performance metrics. Daily active user of Kakao Pay increased 8% year-on-year to 6.69 million users, sustaining a robust uptrend. Share against monthly active user was 27.8%, 1.2 percentage points higher versus last year on the back of expanded off-line payment and My-Data-based asset management services, attesting to a more diversified user facing and stronger stickiness.
Average transaction per user in Q1 increased 35% year-over-year to 80 transactions with activated brokerage services and wider acceptance and stronger user benefit, frequency of use across all service domains increased sharply, widening the user base across the board. Q1 ARPU thus increased 37% year-over-year to KRW 12,464 on the back of expanded contribution per user following evenly spread growth across all businesses.
Next, CFO, [ Ivan ] will brief you on TPV and financial performance.
[Interpreted] This is Ivan on the financials. Q1 TPV increased 15% year-over-year, reporting KRW 50.7 trillion. Revenue TPV also increased 15% year-over-year to KRW 14.6 trillion, taking 29% share against the total TPV as we build on economy of scale and profitability at the same time. Payment and money transfer continued to drive double-digit growth underpinning the total TPV growth.
In terms of the breakdown, payment service growth was 21% year-over-year, supported by evenly spread growth across all segments. Online payment was powered by data-driven merchant joint marketing and seasonal promotions for New Year holidays, back-to-school season and vacation period, which drove non-captive TPV accompanying 13% year-over-year growth.
Offline payments saw 50% year-on-year growth through overwhelming user benefit offerings and Samsung Wallet integration leading to coverage expansion. Cross-border payments saw 20% year-on-year growth on stronger demand for domestic travel and targeted promotions against strategic merchants. Loan service TPV sustained 2 consecutive quarters of Q-over-Q growth on a product lineup expansion and execution improvement through web-in-app integration despite stringent lending regulations by the government. Stock trading volume was up 4.4x year-over-year, surpassing KRW 79 trillion. Such activation in trading led to a rise in money transfer to my own account, thus driving money transfer TPV by 15% versus last year. Kakao Pay Money balance reported KRW 2.51 trillion as of end of Q1.
Next, on operating revenue. Q1 revenue was up 42% year-over-year, recording KRW 300.3 billion, breaking the KRW 300 billion mark for the first time on a quarterly basis. All of the business lines, including payments, financial services and platforms saw steep double-digit growth year-over-year, sustaining a robust scale expansion. In terms of the breakdown, firstly, digital payment was up 13% year-on-year to KRW 138.4 billion, fueled by online non-captive growth. Digital finance revenue was up 82% year-over-year, reaching KRW 145.9 billion, thanks to salient growth from investment and insurance and now taking up 49% of total revenue.
Investment service revenue reported 137% year-over-year growth against the surge in domestic trading volume, coupled with weak won impact and excluding rising FX rate impact, the growth rate will adjust to 95%. Insurance service revenue saw 78% year-over-year growth on the back of solid demand for core products, including overseas travel insurance and handset breakage insurance as well as the insurance DB sales. Loan service saw year-over-year decline following stronger regulation, but through product diversification and web integration, we were able to sustain 2 consecutive quarters of Q-over-Q revenue uptrend, cementing the recovery trajectory. Platform Service reported 67% year-over-year growth driven by activation of DA advertisement and comparison service for telecom rate plans.
Operating expense in Q1 increased 29% on year and 8% on quarter, recording KRW 268 billion. Marketing expense was up 24% year-over-year, impacted by off-line expansion in payment coverage and stronger affinity marketing. But due to year-end promotional base effect and strategic controls over cost, it fell 29% versus last quarter, coming in at KRW 22.4 billion. We are maintaining the marketing spend at reasonable levels of 7% against our total revenue. Labor cost was up 21% year-on-year on business expansion and hiring of key talent, while due to operational efficiency gains from AI usage, labor costs fell slightly Q-over-Q, displayed a stable and controlled trend.
Commissions paid increased 14% year-over-year due to operating expense incurred from MyData and growing infrastructure spend. However, it is significantly lower than the overall revenue growth, which is a testament to tangible results coming out of margin-focused cost base enhancements. Other operating expense increased 119% year-over-year on recognition of derivatives and foreign currency-related expenses from financial subsidiaries.
Next is on P&L. Q1 consolidated operating profit came in at KRW 32.2 billion, reaching new highs for the quarter. OP margin was 10.7%, continuing on a robust stepwise growth since the turnaround in Q1 of last year. EBITDA reported KRW 40.8 billion with margin at 13.6% and net income was KRW 34.7 billion with net income margin of 11.6%. As you can see, all our profit margin metrics have recorded a double-digit figure. And this actually is a reflection of greater contribution made by our financial entities and stronger earnings capacity of our core businesses. Kakao Pay will continue to optimize its operation to enhance profitability and ramp up its capacity in generating earnings.
Now briefly on Q1 standalone results. Standalone revenue was up 15% on year to KRW 185.1 billion. Separate basis operating profit was up 37% year-over-year to KRW 18.6 billion with OP margin at 10%, maintaining a double digit following last quarter. Net income margin was 12.4%, showing a robust result of double-digit performance for OPM and net income margin, both on a consolidated and standalone basis.
Next, I will turn it over to Jaesun for major first quarter performance highlights.
[Interpreted] Hello. This is Jaesun. Allow me to walk through our digital payment performance. Underpinned by competitiveness in data, we've upgraded our merchant strategy to speed up growth in scale. Firstly, online payment revenue saw 12% year-over-year growth with non-captive segment recording high growth of 24%, expanding online payment mix to 63%. Through solutions that combine Paydata with MyData, partner companies drove real revenue expansion. Moving forward, based on proven data capabilities, we will expand non-captive partnerships domestically and globally to solidify our market dominance.
In terms of specific use cases, we used Kakao Pay's proprietary data together with MyData in order to analyze user's complex payment and behavioral patterns and make precise predictions on churn risk for each of the merchants. We built automation system sending instructions for reward payment in a timely manner when user inactivation is most expected. And as a result, target group's retention meaningfully increased versus organically returning users, contributing to user lock-in and higher TPV.
We also built a framework based on high-quality customer data and through automatic matching of optimal look-alike modeling for each merchant, enabled identification of prospects and personalized benefit offerings. We are matching against the lookalikes in the peer group of a specific vertical or reverse tracking lookalikes of highly loyal vertical customers. Through such sophisticated efforts, in case of specialized models for subscription services, we saw 36% payment conversion from top-tier prospects. Our lookalike modeling is serving as a growth engine across the entire domain, including both on and off-line.
Next, on AI services, I will hand it over to Jeff, Head of Services.
[Interpreted] This is Jeff. Let me talk about AI business, which is Kakao Pay's future growth engine. By scaling up our proprietary AI services and connecting with the external agents, we are solidifying the agentic AI ecosystem. First, we drove expansion of PayI, which is Pay's own AI services. While we made enhancements to health and benefit AI agents, Financial Assistant version 1.0 offering coaching for healthy habits and finance powered by MyData is currently in the workflow pipeline. All of this was implemented as part of our master agent framework, having integrated control across wide-ranging subagents, and we're targeting public beta by end of Q2 this year.
Also within the Kakao ecosystem, we're carrying out agent-to-agent integration. We recently completed MCP integration with ChatGPT for Kakao, now enabling inquiry for payments and money transfer details inside the chat room. We are also preparing for agent-to-agent and MCP integration with Kanana, which is Kakao's own model and will introduce extended services such as agent for integrated statements in the second half of the year.
Externally, we're working towards setting global standards for AI payment as well. As Korea's sole founding member of x402 Foundation, we're leading the effort on establishing a global AI payment protocol. This is a standard for machine payment designed for autonomous payment by the AI agent without human intervention and will be an opportunity for the company to fortify its tech leadership within the global AI financial ecosystem. By moving ahead of others in such standardization efforts, we will provide frictionless payment environment while broadening our global market influence.
Next, I will invite Eddie, who's in charge of operations, to present on the performances of securities and insurance business.
[Interpreted] This is Eddie. In terms of quarterly performance and future strategies for our insurance services, to begin with, we've been able to boost the insurance revenue stream by driving both database volume growth and quality enhancements. There was growth from both DB volume and pricing. Database generation volume posted 61% year-over-year growth in the first quarter, displaying a robust growth potential in terms of supply. We also expanded the share of high-intent prospects in the database, leveraging MyData for insurance coverage analysis, which drove higher partner satisfaction upon which we were able to increase the unit price by 21%. As a result, revenue increased 76% year-on-year with the positive feedback effect of rise in both DB distribution volume and the unit price.
For the sub-agency model, after the adoption of standard sales practice, SA's conversion rate was up 2.1x versus previous quarter, clearly a display of its effectiveness. We plan to advance in phases support system for agents, including expanding the consultation team by the first half of the year and data visualization and eventually introducing AI-powered operating system to maintain sales efficiency improvements.
Next on brokerage services. Kakao Pay Securities posted a record high growth in AUM and earnings on the back of strong domestic and overseas equities market. As of Q1 end, AUM was up 208% year-on-year to KRW 13 trillion, and this growth was fueled by actual net inflow of funds, not merely by higher valuation from uptrending stock prices. Net inflow in Q1 was KRW 3.7 trillion, which is quite remarkable as it is equivalent to 76% of last year's annual inflow. Kakao Pay Securities Q1 revenue thus was up 124% year-over-year, breaking the KRW 100 billion quarterly mark for the first time, while operating profit recorded KRW 23.6 billion, which is 55% of last year's annual figure.
Quarterly trading volume surged 339% year-on-year, reaching KRW 79 trillion on strong market, expanded product lineup and the FX impact. Number of transactions also increased 206% to 221 million transactions and active user on a monthly basis was up 143% year-over-year, reaching 1.4 million users.
Now on Kakao Pay Insurance, there is clear uptrend in performance powered by solid top line growth. As such, Q1 revenue was up 85% year-over-year to KRW 24.3 billion. And coupled with solid performance from overseas travel insurance, which is our core product, we started seeing revenue contributions from regular premium products driving growth such as from phone and student insurances. We expect higher share of regular premium products and profitability-focused portfolio will further support sustainable business.
Gross premium written hence for the first quarter was up 66% year-over-year with regular premium recording a sharp growth of 157% year-over-year, attesting to a stable earnings base. Kakao Pay Insurance also continues to widen its customer base by introducing new and distinctive product offerings. Pet insurance is a recent launch, offering industry's lowest premium but maximum coverage. Coupled with strong competitiveness and social feature, the product is winning positive market feedback. Kakao Pay Insurance will continue to roll out innovative user-centric products to enhance accessibility to insurance services and also to further fortify sustainable growth levers.
Moving on to ESG and upcoming plans, I will invite back Allen for closing.
[Interpreted] It's Allen again. Kakao Pay has demonstrated its sustainable management capabilities, both domestically and on a global stage. For 3 consecutive years, we made S&P Global Korea Index while being selected as the Yearbook member for 3 years in a row as the only fintech company within the financial services sector recognized for its outstanding ESG performance in human capital, ethical management and sustainable financing, among others. We were also awarded prime status in ESG evaluation by the biggest global proxy advisory, ISS, and was recognized as the industry leader, winning high ratings across all ESG pillars.
Moving on to environmental and social contribution efforts. We at Kakao Pay practice inclusive finance through Blind Spot Pay School, helping those with limited access to digital finance. We recruited 50 partner institutions in 2026 to create practical educational opportunities for seniors and ran awareness programs showcasing a documentary titled, My Exploration of Blind Spot, featuring digital financial exclusion experience by senior citizens.
Also for shared growth with small vendors, we significantly increased support to Oraeorae Together Store this year. New store onboarding was up 67% year-over-year, reaching 100 new stores and extending support to brands that mainly operate offline as well. On top of the sales channel, we also extended tailored packages for growth, which includes PR services, training for capacity building and digital transformation solutions, thus supporting small merchants to gain self-sustaining capacity across on and offline businesses.
Lastly, we renewed ISO 14001 certificate, an international standard on environmental management, enhancing relevant processes and under which we are building sustainable office environment as we respond to challenges of climate change. Kakao Pay moving ahead will engage in ESG activities that have organic relevance to our core businesses to fulfill our social responsibilities in our effort towards making our future sustainable.
We've so far walked through key performance highlights for the quarter. In Q1, we surpassed KRW 300 billion in quarterly revenue, recording a double-digit OP margin, both on a consolidated and separate basis, which is a testament to Kakao Pay's solid earnings capacity. What's more encouraging is on top of the leaps that we've made by our financial entities, we can say we've entered the growth trajectory in full swing where data-driven business models, which we've explored and validated last year as well as new growth levers are translating into real numbers. It goes to show that Kakao Pay is now more than a platform, having evolved into a strong financial ecosystem equipped with profitability and scalability.
We will maintain this overwhelming growth momentum solid during the year using innovation and technology beyond improving user convenience, but also for lifting corporate value. The entire Kakao Pay crew, myself included, will be relentless in creating an environment where users can feel at ease when engaging in daily financial activities, and we'll turn this mission into tangible results. Thank you.
[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] The first question will be provided by Sinyoung Park from Goldman Sachs.
2. Question Answer
[Interpreted] This is Park Sinyoung from Goldman Sachs. I would like to ask you 2 questions. First one relates to your stablecoin initiative. In Korea, the legislative process for stablecoin is being somewhat delayed, but I'm sure that this will be a great opportunity for Kakao Pay to further strengthen your market share within the financial services market. You've also talked about your activities and participation into the global protocol initiative of x402 Foundation. And so I would like to understand as to the update as to how your stablecoin business is currently ongoing? And what will be your key focus area? And how will it connect to the overall wallet ecosystem?
Second question relates to basically, we've seen a significant contribution from financial services to your topline revenue. It's actually reached around 40% fueled by a very steep growth of Kakao Pay Securities. You were able to prove that there was a structural and also qualitative change in the overall revenue structure. I would like to understand as to what you feel is the most optimal mix from a mid- to longer-term perspective, looking at different businesses such as payments, digital finance and platform. And when do you think that you will be able to achieve that most optimal level?
[Interpreted] This is Allen. I will respond to the first question that you asked relating to the stablecoin. Now we're making preparations with -- jointly together with other Kakao Group companies to develop our stablecoin business. Kakao Pay is deeply involved in the design of the infrastructure and issuance aspect as well to be led by the consortium as well as designing the business structure to support the distribution of stablecoin as a discrete distributor and building the technical foundation that is required. Reason why we're involved on the both sides of designing the infrastructure for issuance as well as for the distribution is to win an overwhelming positioning in the stablecoin market. We're leading the design efforts so that the infrastructure to be developed by our consortium can really support wide-ranging versatile use cases. This will eventually help companies, including us to adopt our stablecoin and will help expand issuance and distribution as well as usage scope of stablecoin.
So what I've just explained was from a point of view of how we can actually enlarge the pie basically through this effort led by the consortium with regard to the issuance of the stablecoin. From now on, I'm going to talk about the big piece that Kakao Pay will take out of that pie. So that's the perspective that I will be highlighting from now on. So under this optimal infrastructure, we're currently building services to empower users to have stablecoin in Kakao Pay's wallet, meaning in the wallets of 40 million users, have them freely send and receive, make payment and invest in stablecoin with no constraint. So we want to be able to bring convenient use of stablecoin to be part of Kakao Pay services, which already enjoys top-tier positioning in the financial sector in terms of number of transactions for payment as well as for money transfer. And we hope to expand user acceptance while lowering our own cost base and eventually identifying new business opportunities such as stablecoin wallet as a service and creating feasible business case.
In the opening, I briefly mentioned that we're participating in the x402 global open protocol initiative. This is one of the ways in which we are trying to naturally bridge the payment demand with our stablecoin ecosystem against the AI backdrop. We're going to make it so that Kakao Pay and our stablecoin become the most critical payment method in the AI ecosystem. And through these efforts, Kakao Pay will not only bring success to the stablecoin consortium, but also will create new growth engine for Kakao Pay itself.
[Interpreted] This is Ivan. Responding to your question about our revenue structure. Now we've been working on our platform strength as a financial platform and have diversified business towards personalized financial service offerings, which drove higher revenue share of digital finance and the platform revenue. Our corporate strategy and direction is now translating into such results, and our thinking is that optimal revenue generation comes from following the business direction rather than fixing a certain revenue mix target in advance.
Now also, our service portfolio is highly exposed to market movements or volatilities and regulation, which are quite hard to predict. In payments, digital finance and platform, we're doing our best to drive growth from each business domain and maximize growth potential based on their business fundamentals. We believe it's important to fend against risk from outside while driving growth of the company at the same time. And from a mid- to longer-term perspective, we want to be able to expand our services and nimbly navigate a fast-changing industry environment with regards to the various different needs of the users, the adoption of AI and stablecoin.
So in summary, based on our strategic direction for non-payment business going forward, we do expect our non-payment business, including the digital finance business to actually account for more than the majority of our top line revenue. But rather than being fixated on this number as being optimal, we want to be able to respond to the market in an agile and nimble manner and solidify our revenue stream where everyone shares growth across payments, digital finance and platform as we continue to invest in creating our future businesses.
[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Jin-Gu Kim from Kiwoom Securities.
[Interpreted] I would like to ask you 2 questions. First, relating to your overall AI service plan. Last year, with PayI, which is your own AI services, you introduced insurance diagnostics, AI as well as card and payment benefit-related AI agents. And you've mentioned that you're preparing at this point in the pipeline an asset management and payment-related AI agents in 2026. So can you provide some color as to the update of what is taking place at this point? And also what are the specifics of the action plan with regards to the test bed for such agents? And also if there's anything else that's included in this overall AI plan, please do share that with us.
Second question is on your payment business. We've seen very clear performance improvement on the non-captive side, the online non-captive segment. In Q1, despite a somewhat of a depressed commerce market, we see a very steep growth rate. What do you feel is the key driver behind the continuation of such strong growth from the non-captive segment? It will be helpful if you could also mention the scaling up or the upgrade of the database or data-driven analytics using MyData and Paydata as well.
[Interpreted] This is Jeff. Responding to your first question on AI. Now in AI agent for asset management, we're focusing on building Financial Assistant version 1.0. It actually goes beyond mere information search. It also provides proactive asset management by monitoring and optimizing financial status of a user in a real-time basis. And the key to this has to do with data and the method of implementation. In terms of data, insight is offered based on the user's MyData, which is, in fact, financial and payment data of the user. And in terms of the implementation method, we're using integrated master agent approach under which there are subagents for insurance, investment and for instance, combined statement, which are all connected, enabling both cost efficiency gains and higher service quality. AI from global big techs have only limited access to financial data of their user base, so we think AI Financial Assistant of Kakao Pay has a unique edge and our target date for initial public beta release is end of Q2 of '26.
Also, payment AI agent is at the core of agentic payment responsible for the last mile of money movement in the world of AI agents. Let's say, a user after exploring a certain product decides to make a purchase inside the commerce domain run by the Kanana agent. At that time, payment AI comes into play, offering the most optimal scenario for user benefit and completes the payment immediately. So even if search is made within Kanana, transaction is closed by Kakao Pay. To this end, we are, at this point, working towards securing a real-world use case before the end of the year in fiat-based payment by working with key strategic domestic merchants. Also to incorporate next-generation payment methods, including stablecoin, we've joined the x402 project so as to gain technological and regulatory readiness and are planning on introducing highly well-made services in step with the legislative timeline.
[Interpreted] This is Jaesun. Responding to your question on our online non-captive performance. Yes, you are correct. Our non-captive online growth was 21% year-over-year Q4 of last year. And in Q1, it was actually higher at 24%. And non-captive mix out of online payment revenue increased meaningfully from 50% to 63%. Despite contractions in the commerce market, growth driver, in my opinion, was strategy behind strengthening the semi-captive market. By selecting key sectors such as delivery, shopping, fashion, air travel, accommodation, we strategically focused on strong coupling -- strong strategic coupling that is with key merchants who are building their category competitiveness, running marketing, targeting their specific needs as we refined our user engagement.
So we have a basic set of seasonal campaigns and promotions catering to each merchant. And on top, we are bringing our own data capabilities using MyData and data analytics, we analyze 61 complex payment behavioral patterns, select target segments using prediction model, provide optimal benefit to users at the right timing. All of this is based on automated process, which helped build retention. Let's say, we have a strategic merchant A, we can detect early on that a heavy user of the app is about to move to a competitor by analyzing Kakao Pay data and offer personalized reward at the right timing based on payment habits and patterns, which will help increase user retention for the merchant.
We're also using payment and behavioral data analytics to acquire prospects as well as retaining high-quality customers. By identifying new customers and delivering personalized benefits, we were able to drive higher payment conversion. Based on all-around data analytics, leaning towards activation strategies, we're strengthening collaboration to attain win-win for both the merchant and for Kakao Pay. Through Kakao Pay, merchants can retain and expand their customers efficiently, which led to higher TPV and our market share for Kakao Pay against the merchants. We will continue to broaden this collaborative structure and virtuous flywheel.
[Interpreted] Due to the time constraints, we will be taking the final question now. The last question will be presented by Yu-dong Yoon from NH Investment & Securities.
[Interpreted] My question relates to your business, your securities business. We've seen a continuous profit growth for your securities entity on a quarter-over-quarter basis. And because of the market tailwind, we think that this will be a good opportunity for you to narrow the gap that you have with your peers or competitors or to jump up in the ranking. I would like to know as to what strategies you're currently envisioning? And do you also have plans for additional capital raising in order to expand your credit provision business?
[Interpreted] This is Eddie responding to your question. Kakao Pay Securities is considered as a top 6 player in terms of user volume based on the MAU metrics based upon our own criteria. And we believe it's important to actively expand user acquisition going forward. And our goal is to narrow the gap with our competitors in terms of the MAU so that we can reach above 2 million and be top 2 by the end of the year. To that end, we're working on a variety of marketing and branding activities and improving our user interface as well as UX. Also to drive synergies across the group, basically for Kakao Pay Securities, we're providing stock trading inside the Kakao Bank app channel. So we do look forward to additional user inflow through this channel. On top of such efforts by delivering tailored trading experience across user segments from light users to heavy traders and by using AI to deliver investment-related information and by growing the community itself, we're looking to narrow the trading volume gap with top-tier securities companies.
Kakao Pay Security's vision is to give people the experience of making money the right way, the genuine way. And under the goal of lowering the hurdle for everyone, solving information asymmetry, empowering people to invest with comfort and safety, we are focusing on innovating the overall user experience. Focusing our UX capabilities, we are bringing and focusing our UX capabilities into consumer research and design as well. And under the culture of fostering data-driven experiments, we are optimizing usability of products aligned with needs of different customer segments. So in the second half, on top of chart-based ordering, quick ordering and pro mode revamp, we will bring AI analytics across the entire app. And in terms of the business of extending credit, on rise in the domestic stock trading volume, provision of margin loan is, yes, also growing. Although it is not easy to predict market volatilities, we plan to monitor market trend closely and decide on the need of capital injection if need be.
[Interpreted] Thank you. This brings us to the end of the first quarter earnings conference call of Kakao Pay. If there are any unanswered questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at the IR team. Thank you very much.
[Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]
kakaopay — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
[Interpreted] Good morning and good evening. Thank you all for joining the conference call for the Kakao Pay earnings results. This conference will start with a presentation followed by a Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] Now we will begin the presentation on Kakao Pay's Fourth Quarter of Fiscal Year 2025 earnings results.
[Interpreted] Good afternoon. This is Allen, CEO of Kakao Pay. Thank you for joining the fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. I will begin with key metrics for FY '25 Q4 TPV, consolidated basis operating revenue and expense, P&L, followed by key business highlights for Q4 of '25 and end with 2026 strategies. First, on the key metrics.
FY '25 TPV increased 11% year-over-year to KRW 185.6 trillion. Revenue TPV was KRW 53.6 trillion, up 10% year-on-year, attesting to quality-driven growth. Driven by balanced growth across the entire business domain, FY '25 revenue grew 25% year-on-year, reporting KRW 958.4 billion. What's noteworthy is revenue from financial services reporting a sharp growth of 59% with revenue mix of 40%, becoming a strong pillar supporting diversified revenue stream.
Platform revenue also increased 63% year-on-year, meaningfully expanding business foundation. FY '25 operating profit reported KRW 50.4 billion, successfully achieving its first annual turnaround, while net income recorded KRW 55.7 billion and EBITDA came in at KRW 83.3 billion.
Next is on business performance highlights. DAU as of end of FY '25 increased 5% year-over-year to 6.68 million, which is 27.6% of MAU, monthly active user, going up 1.8 percentage points versus 25.7% of Q4 of last year. This goes to show stronger user stickiness driven by cross usage of wide-ranging services on Kakao Pay platform and rise in frequency of visits.
Average number of transactions per user across all of Kakao Pay Services in FY '25 was 209, up 44% year-on-year from 145 transactions. Added expansion in user activity across all business segments, an outstanding surge in financial services transaction spearheaded the overall upward trajectory. On the back of balanced growth across all business domains and notable growth from financial services, ARPU increased 31% year-over-year, reporting KRW 29,524.
Next, I will invite [ Aidan ] to walk through the financials and Q4 TPV.
[Interpreted] Hello. This is [ Aidan ] on the financials. Q4 TPV increased 14% year-over-year, reaching KRW 49.3 trillion. Out of this, revenue TPV was KRW 14.2 trillion, up 15% year-on-year, accounting for 29% of total TPV. We've seen payment and money transfer show double-digit growth year-over-year, driving the total TPV uptrend.
Payment service TPV sustained robust double-digit growth trends across all segments with a notable 18% year-over-year growth. For online payments, strategic marketing promotion in line with the year-end peak seasonality drove TPV growth of 11% year-over-year.
Offline saw stronger user benefits and aggressive expansion of good deal brands and integration of Kakao Pay Money into Samsung Wallet, which helped to enhance convenience, leading to user lock-in effect, in turn driving sharp increase in TPV of 43% year-over-year.
Cross-border payments successfully captured year-end peak seasonal demand against which we strategically ran promotions at major global merchant outlets. With the added impact of adoption of NFC payment infrastructure off-line, TPV went up 21% year-over-year.
Loan service TPV dropped year-over-year on the back of stringent government regulation on household loans, but on diversified brokerage service for alternative financial products and web in-app implementation, we saw a rebound in TPV Q-on-Q, reclaiming the quarterly growth trajectory.
Stock trading volume increased 159% year-on-year, reaching KRW 45 trillion, driving a record high quarterly results. On rise in stock trades, money transferred to my own accounts increased with money transfer TPV growth of 14% year-over-year. Kakao Pay money balance stood at KRW 2.2859 trillion as of end of Q4.
Next on revenue. Q4 revenue was up 24% versus last year, reporting KRW 269.8 billion. Growth was even across all service segments with a double-digit growth as payment increased 12%, Financial services, 34% and Platform [ business ] 87% year-over-year. Digital payments saw growth across all its domains year-on-year as well with online cross-border leading that top line growth by actively leveraging high seasonal demand.
Digital Finance increased 34% year-over-year, reaching KRW 112.8 billion with revenue mix of 42% on steep growth from investment and insurance services despite loan service revenue decline following loan regulations. Investment service revenue was up 39% against the backdrop of 2.5x year-over-year growth of domestic and overseas trading volume and growth in ISA and sales of pension savings.
Supported by robust demand for core insurance products, thanks to diversified product portfolio and sales channel as well as the insurance database sales, all working together, creating synergy, insurance service recorded high growth of 80% year-on-year.
Loan service dipped marginally year-over-year following the regulatory impact, which is an external factor. But through web in-app implementation, which improved convenience and execution of lending, we were able to capture demand for credit loans, thereby driving Q-over-Q rebound.
Platform service continued an uptrend, expanding 87% year-on-year, driven by display ad revenue growth on the back of hyper-personalized ads targeting with the underpinning of MyData.
Q4 operating expense was down 1% year-over-year, but up 12% Q-over-Q to KRW 249 billion. Marketing expense increased 70% year-on-year due to co-marketing with strategic partners and stronger reward programs targeted at expanding the payment coverage. But looking at FY '25 expense, it was kept at a reasonable level of below 10% against revenue. Labor cost also was up 29% year-on-year on business domain expansion, including from financial subsidiaries and due to talent acquisition.
Commissions paid, on the other hand, had remained stable, thanks to efficient cost management and it declined Q-on-Q, supporting profitability enhancement, notwithstanding the top line growth.
Lastly, other operating expense fell 47% year-on-year with the fading of the base effect from one-off expense arising from TMON and WeMakePrice in Q4 of last year. However, operating expense went up 75% Q-over-Q, in line with higher revenue from the financial subsidiaries and on higher policy reserve requirement at Pay Insurance and derivatives and recognition of FX-related expense at Pay Securities.
Next is on P&L. Q4 consolidated operating profit reported KRW 20.8 billion, going above the KRW 20 billion mark and recorded a record high quarterly figure. This is 32% Q-on-Q rise. And since the turnaround in the first quarter, we've been gradually improving margin every quarter with the OP margin coming in at 7.7%.
Net income was KRW 8.1 billion and EBITDA reported KRW 29.3 billion. In Q4, we were able to fortify the basis for a company-wide turnaround by striking a balance between growth and fundamental resilience. Payment proved its earnings capacity. And with this as the engine, we drove volume expansion across all our business domains, including that of the financial subsidiaries. Added to this growth, cost optimization has taken a solid footing, driving tangible profitability improvement while cementing the basis for sustainable growth.
Q4 stand-alone revenue was up 16% year-on-year and 9% Q-on-Q, reporting KRW 186.1 billion, and we are sustaining the uptrend. Stand-alone operating profit was KRW 19.1 billion, hitting a record in terms of both consolidated and separate basis. OP margin was 10.3%, a strong double digit, while net income came in at KRW 8.5 billion.
Next, I will invite [ Jason ], who will walk through key Q4 business highlights.
[Interpreted] This is Jason. Let me first begin with the outcome of vertical expansion, which was our first strategic focus in 2025. Main thrust of vertical expansion was to maximize profitability, leveraging data capabilities and value chain internalization going beyond a mere service expansion.
For payments, we will continue to build out a system to facilitate efficient Pay Money conversion, driving maximum synergy between digital payment and vertical expansion of general payment as we push forward with a virtual cycle underpinned by expanded value chain.
By displaying Kakao Pay at the top of PG, the payment gateway window, we can drive activation, which will create a revenue stream that can help us gain competitive edge in commissions, fulfilling the flywheel strategy. Establishing a sustainable business framework will be our core focus.
We are gaining market differentiation from our alternative credit scoring model, which is unmatched by others. We internalized this scoring model in the underwriting process of financial institutions going beyond simply brokering the loan products. On top of traditional scoring method, we use financial -- MyData, KakaoTalk-based [ digital ] network and Kakao Pay data, combining them into a sophisticated scoring system through the use of which financial institutions can better differentiate customers by uncovering hidden assets while offering specialized products with optimal interest rate and credit limits tailored to each customer. Such differentiation, which is data-driven, creates a virtual cycle leading to strong product competitiveness and customer lock-in.
For insurance, we're focused on securing new revenue stream through a sub-agency model by innovating the consultation process. By collaborating with professional SAs, we can lower operational risk of running an agent organization while enhancing efficiency. And by expanding data-driven consultation, we will deliver consistent user experience from acquisitions to execution of insurance policies.
We've gone through a standardization phase, moving to system internalization and adoption of AI-powered consultation advisers under the aim of achieving sector-leading productivity by 2027.
Next, Jeff, who heads the Services, will present on the second and the third key strategic direction.
[Interpreted] Hello. This is Jeff. Let me brief you on Kakao Pay's second strategic direction, which is data-driven performance. We established highly sophisticated data business that turns vast amount of company data into revenue stream. As of end of '25, we have 22.11 million MyData users, 42.06 million paid data users, making up an unmatched data ecosystem. which is used for precise targeting of customer needs and recommending next best action at the most appropriate timing, all of which are leading to notable conversion growth. And by analyzing such integrated set of data, we are able to unlock new segments, developing services and products that are different and new to the current market.
Moreover, we are strengthening core competitiveness of service offerings via data-driven USP. Total history, for instance, integrates fragmented payment data on a real-time basis, which leads to higher user visit frequency and lengthens the dwell time. We also have auto alert feature, notifying the user of main financial events such as paying up interest on loans and paying credit card bills, which are effective in locking in customers as they help users to better manage their finances.
Lastly, security guide and asset and credit protect messaging help activate users who are not yet linked up while strengthening the current active user base. Through such hyper-personalization strategies, we plan on expanding high-margin revenue and drive quality growth in which data directly translates into tangible operational leverage.
Next, on the performance of Platform Play, which is the third strategic direction, we are going beyond our previous core user base, expanding into active seniors, young segments and foreigners as we build upon the user base and forming a virtual cycle where new acquisition and retention feeds into one another.
We are securing growth engine by offering financial services optimized for the lifestyle of each segment with a full spread display of such features. For instance, for seniors, home screen with bigger fonts and phishing prevention features are used. And for teens, we've upgraded specific content catering to teens such as Teen's Number, driving distinctive user experience.
Also in Q4, we rolled out Global Home, making a big improvement on access and convenience for foreign users across key financial services such as money transfer, payment and card issuance. Based on refined data analysis and personalized and targeted content, we will strengthen retention across all age groups, and we continue to fortify fundamentals of the platform services.
Next, Eddie, Head of Operations, will run through Kakao Pay Securities and Pay Issuance. Hello.
[Interpreted] This is Eddie. Q4, Kakao Pay Securities' stock trading volume was up 159% year-on-year, reaching KRW 45 trillion with number of customers going up 170% to 1.35 million as growth sustained. Q4 revenue thus was up 37% year-on-year to KRW 72.8 billion, with operating profit at KRW 18.4 billion, hitting a historical record.
Revenue for the full year was KRW 242 billion, growing 77% versus last year, while operating profit came in at KRW 42.7 billion, writing a meaningful milestone of annual turnaround. This achievement was driven by strategic product lineup expansion in step with strong stock market trend and offering of unmatched convenience from users' perspective and innovative features. Upon competitive new acquisition cost and high operating leverage, stable profit-making streak was established as 2025 was a year where we achieved a leap in profitability growth.
Total deposit assets increased 139% year-on-year, reaching KRW 9.3 trillion, with stocks up 197% year-on-year to KRW 7 trillion on rapid expansion of overseas stock trading. Growth in deposit asset for '25 was encouraging because key lever was net inflow from users fund rather than a simple rise in stock prices. All in all, Q4 net inflow was KRW 2.7 trillion, up 76% Q-over-Q.
In Q4, notable performance came from ISA account and pension savings as we tapped into year-end demand for tax saving solutions. Over 100,000 brokerage ISA accounts were opened in just 2 months since its rollout, attesting to strong product competitiveness. And by enabling account setup with a single tap and semi-automating account transfer process from other institutions, we lower the entry barrier and also used dashboard to display amount of tax money saved so users can intuitively see the benefit, making the environment conducive to investing.
Pension savings also showed record performance of landing at top 5 ranking with number of accounts surpassing 380,000 in just 1 year since its rollout. We introduced pension-specific features such as automated transfer exceptions in Q4, gaining a competitive positioning in mobile optimized user experience. We will evolve into a comprehensive asset management platform, helping customers grow their assets, riding on the popularity of such tax-efficient products.
Moving on to Kakao Pay Insurance. In Q4, the company sustained top line uptrend supported by diversified sales strategies. Q4 gross premium written increased 87% year-on-year and 19% Q-on-Q, reporting KRW 19.6 billion. This is an outcome of successful business model expansion based on the 3-engine system, cutting across B2C, B2B2C as well as B2B and also due to portfolio construction around regular premium products with a clear focus on profitability.
With a focus on key categories such as children's insurance and mobile phone insurance, regular premium revenue continued an uptrend, while children's insurance saw strong Q4 sales from maximized marketing efficiency at each of our customer touch points as we focused on seasonal coverage such as flu protection. Regular premium forming the foundation of top line growth grew 260% year-on-year, reporting KRW 5.6 billion, while its share out of total premium written increased 13.3 percentage points, recording 27.7%.
Next, I will invite Allen back for ESG and 2026 strategic direction before we end the presentation.
[Interpreted] This is Allen again. Kakao Pay's sustained ESG endeavors are being recognized by Korea's major institutions, and we were given combined ESG A ratings from KCGS. In terms of environment, we set long-term goals and detailed strategies against climate change and achieved 11.9% renewable energy transition rate by sourcing renewables -- which drove improvement in environmental performance, supporting the maintenance of ratings.
In terms of the social pillar, where we had biggest outcome, we were given A+ ratings, 2 notches up versus last year, in recognition of safety and health, human rights centered management, information security and community engagement, which was a testament to our industry-leading capabilities.
In terms of governance, by evaluating the BOD and respective committees, we strengthened transparency going over ESG issues at the Board level, which earned us A ratings, moving 1 notch higher versus last year.
Next is shared growth achievements. We hosted 2025 LONG RUN event with record high turnout in the history of running event in Korea with 265,000 people participating and raising KRW 2 billion in funds for donation. By completing the mission of achieving KRW 20 billion cumulative steps taken, we made the donation to Working Together Foundation and small vendors.
Orae Orae campaign for shared growth was also awarded a [ pop ] from Small Enterprise and Market Service for supporting 264 brands to make market inroads over the past 3 years. We estimate that the pop-up store support helped small merchants to save around KRW 6.4 billion in operating expense and 150,000 work hours.
We also received commendation from Credit Counseling & Recovery Service for preventing credit risk for youngsters and for spreading healthy credit culture through the credit education for soldiers. In commemoration of 2025 OECD Global Money Week, we ran a successful training catering to the needs of the military personnel. Kakao Pay will continue to strengthen its ESG activities aligned with our business to fulfill social responsibility and to open up a sustainable future.
Last but not least is the company's 2026 growth strategy. In order to sustain business and financial outcome achieved in 2025, we've set our direction forward for 2026. We will continue with the 3-core direction of vertical expansion, data-driven monetization and platform play supported by the traffic, riding on the performance of last year. To this end, we will add 2 more engines, one of which is to prepare for new domains. Stablecoin with legislation underway and blockchain and opportunities connected to STO will become important new business domains for Kakao Pay, and we will be making thorough preparations.
Next, together with the Kakao Group and its affiliates, we will actively explore opportunities to drive synergies in which Kakao Group's strong pivot can have meaningful impact. We are reviewing multiple opportunities for collaboration and synergies around AI-powered services. And I believe this will lead to additional engine for growth, not only for Kakao Pay, but also for the group affiliates. In 2026, Kakao Pay will continue to drive growth and innovation, providing better and improved financial experience while living up to its social responsibilities. Thank you.
[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] The first question will be provided by Sinyoung Park from Goldman Sachs.
2. Question Answer
[Interpreted] I am Park Sinyoung from Goldman Sachs. I would like to ask you 2 questions. I'd like to first gain some color as to what your views are in terms of the revenue growth outlook for 2026. And in 2025, we've seen gradual improvement in the profit on a quarterly basis. What would be your take for 2026? Just a rough color would be appreciated.
And in terms of your 3 key business areas, which are the payment, finance and platform, I would think that the way that the top line growth as well as the profit improvement will actually play out and pan out will be quite different. So, it'd be helpful if you could just give us more detail on that aspect.
Second question has to do with your Securities business. In Q4, there was a significant contribution to your performance made by Kakao Pay Securities. And I'm sure that, that improvement was driven also in some part by the bullish stock market. But with regards to certain limitations and constraints that are currently being put on, particularly for the overseas stock trading with the subdued amount of marketing activities that is recommended. I'm just wondering whether that will have an impact on your expansion of the business going forward. So, just give us some color on what your -- how your Securities business will play out going forward.
[Interpreted] This is CFO, Aidan, responding to your question about the guidance. Basically, for 2026, we are looking towards a top line revenue growth and a guidance of around 15% to 25%. We actually achieved a very successful turnaround back in 2025, and we now have quite stable financials. And upon such fundamentals, we will further drive top line growth, and that growth will drive profit enhancements as well, leading to gradual increases in operating profit. So, this actually is a virtual cycle that we will continue to strengthen.
Now going on to each of the business line. First is Payment, and if you look at our online commerce market, the overall backdrop has been very competitive. But in Q4, we proved our competitiveness in payment through efficient marketing and stronger collaboration with key strategic merchants and semi-captive market. So, in 2026 as well, basically, we expect there to be high growth of cross-border and off-line and robust online performance as well based on Pay Money. We believe that this will continue to form a strong pillar behind the top line growth of the company.
Second is on the Financial Service business. Now, due to the household loan regulation, loan business is quite challenging, but through refined targeting and improved efficiency in user matching, we will look for growth opportunities despite such headwinds. In terms of the insurance services, in line with the growth of the existing products such as the traveler's insurance, mobile phone insurance, supported by MyData, we are seeing a continuous uptrend in insurance DB sales.
We also expect that our top line growth will be driven by the sub-agency business as we move -- as we go forward. And so for the Kakao Pay Securities business as well in 2026, I believe that there is going to be a meaningful top line growth. And also, we believe that this year, we will be able to achieve a good result in terms of turning the new customers into active customers. Our successful formula will enable that. And also, by constructing the investment portfolio with various different components such as domestic and overseas stocks and pension and ISA and fund, we will continue to strengthen cross-selling opportunities.
Now, so in terms of the platform business, the way we see the platform business is that they are high-value businesses, including advertisement, card and brokerage for telecom services. And our drive will be towards improving and enhancing on its profitability. So, all in all, in summary, 2026 will be a year in which we achieve both top line growth and improved profitability, building on the stable foundation of our payment business while adding qualitative growth in our financial and platform services.
[Interpreted] This is Eddie responding to your question about Kakao Pay Securities. In Q4, as you've correctly mentioned, stock trade volume was KRW 44.9 trillion, up 32% Q-over-Q and 159% year-on-year. Domestic market has been bullish recently with domestic volume growing 51% Q-over-Q and 279% year-on-year with its share expanding from 43% to 50% in the fourth quarter.
So as a result, domestic and global trading volume split is now 50-50. And also, domestic credit transaction performance is also growing quickly, doubling year-over-year as of the fourth quarter and growing 1.3x Q-over-Q. And we expect such trend will continue in the first quarter of 2026.
And it's also true that we are shying away from excessive marketing for overseas stock trades, changing the pivot to domestic trade in terms of marketing and providing rewards to our customers. And I'm sure you would also, in that flight, have certain curiosities and questions regarding the margin structure in light of the current bullish stock market domestically. If you look at the take rate, it's true that overseas stock trading has 6x higher take rate versus domestic, but market size for domestic stock trade is 5x bigger with bigger ticket sizes. And credit transaction performance is also rising very quickly, making up for the downside factors. So, we don't believe this to be of a big risk to our bottom line.
Now for the 2026 strategies, I will talk about retail and the IB business separately. First, if you look at retail, there are 3 strategies from user engagement perspective: one, number of new account openings; two, up-trending active user conversion; and three, actively incorporating customer VOC in order to deliver convenience and functionality while building on the community feature and servicing on AI theme to scale up the customer funnel.
Converting new customers to active customer, which is our formula for success, will continue to work in '26 as well. We will broaden the pool of active customers through highly refined customer engagement strategies. And also, to leverage growth momentum that we are seeing in the market in '26, we will beef up domestic trade and margin business, applying success formula we acquired from overseas businesses. We will also be utilizing pension accounts, ISA fund and other financial products for cross-selling purposes so that customers can better construct their portfolio and for us to fortify the basis for robust and healthy growth.
In IB business, we are hiring top talent as we speak and expect to diversify into wide-ranging revenue stream in '26 as we move the dependency away from real estate brokerage. Regarding the token Securities-related bill and the amendment to the Capital Markets Act, Kakao Pay Securities is participating in the KDX consortium, and we will be able to contribute in making securities products that can appeal, better appeal to users.
Kakao Pay Securities achieved a turnaround in 2025, entering into a secular upcycle with all metrics such as stock trading volume, number of transactions, customers, deposit and net inflow all showing an uptrend. In '26, upon this robust trajectory, we will do cross-selling, revamp services in order to target more than 50% year-on-year revenue growth and to achieve additional operating profit growth.
[Interpreted] Next question please.
[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Dong Woo Kim from Kyobo Securities.
[Interpreted] My question relates to your AI strategy. I believe that Kanana and KakaoTalk is going to be rolled out in the first quarter. I'm wondering what role will Kakao Pay play under this initiative? And what is the timing for us to see an impact on your TPV? I would like to gain some color there.
[Interpreted] This is Jeff. Responding to your question on the AI strategy. First, on the role of Kakao Pay in the early version of Kanana and KakaoTalk is as a key partner that provides optimal finance and spending solution to users inside the Kanana services, meaning we will first connect to key features of finding personalized benefits powered by AI, which has already been tested and validated inside the application.
Basically, within the context of dialogue happening inside KakaoTalk, where the user needs to have information on payment benefits, the response will be served immediately. Later, we will be expanding this connection to AI-driven health management based on users' health data and users will experience Pay Services seamlessly on the KakaoTalk platform.
In terms of the timing of the upturn in TPV, as Pay Service discovery is expanded through Kakao's AI agent from this early version of connection, it will, of course, drive inward traffic. In terms of, however, real upturn in TPV, it will come when Kakao's agentic commerce comes under full swing. To this end, we want to create agentic payment experience going beyond a simple offering of point solution and payment, but creating a bridge between agents' product or benefit recommendation and the act of making a purchase. This is what we're currently designing together with Kakao.
Now lastly, on the plan to connect [ Pay AI ] and Kakao's agentic AI platform. In Kakao Pay, we are building specialized agents by different -- for different finance domains and organically linking it to Kakao's AI platform. So once the structure and framework is complete, whenever a new finance agent is developed, we can very quickly and easily scale to Kanana without having to go through complex steps.
In 2026, you will be able to see how Pay AI actually makes the lives of financial services more seamless, not just in the Pay app, but also inside the KakaoTalk channel.
[Interpreted] Next question, please.
[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Yu-dong Yoon from NH Investment & Securities.
[Interpreted] I'm Yoon Yu-dong from NH Securities. I would like to ask you a question about your payment business. The e-commerce growth recently is slowing down. And despite that, I understand that your business -- payment business performance is better than what we had expected. So, what is your take on the outlook for the payment business in terms of growth for 2026?
And you also mentioned that you are planning to start the general payment business as well. What strategies would you be employing? If you could shed light for the online, off-line and cross-border business, that would be helpful. And also, for the online, if you could split that answer into captive versus non-captive, that would be appreciated.
[Interpreted] This is Jason, taking your question. We cautiously project slightly higher growth versus mid-single-digit growth that we've seen in 2025. Economy will continue to be sluggish with slowing consumption in '26, but we expect Kakao Pay will achieve higher growth driven by strategies that are unique to Kakao Pay.
In online captive payment, we will focus on scaling up synergies with our key affiliates. Working together with Kakao Commerce, we will actively expand market share of Pay through exclusive seasonal promotion and general payment service expansion. Especially with Kakao Mobility, Pay Money will be added to the payment method starting the first quarter. We expect this will drive high-frequency traffic from Kakao Driver and bike into the Pay Money ecosystem, triggering concurrent growth in sales volume and mainstreaming of our products as well. And afterwards, we will be expanding it into Kakao Taxi as well.
In online non-captive segment, by diversifying the portfolio, we will drive stable growth and expand the TPV basis. For instance, going beyond the shopping domain, we plan to add OTA, the airplane ticket purchases, rental fee, long-term insurance premium, which are so-called everyday finance relevant domains, which are less sensitive to economic cycles. We will also expand acceptance points at large merchants like hyundai.com and Hi-Mart while also expanding into semi-captive merchants such as Olive Young and Shinsegae Duty Free.
We will also identify new revenue stream based on collaboration with hosting providers like Cafe24 and through AI commerce cooperation. Through efficient marketing spend, we will achieve both the top line growth and bottom line improvement.
For cross-border online payment, growth will be led by partnership with global big tech companies. We plan on expanding share in key merchants like Google, Apple and [ c-commerce ] providers with a targeted discount promotion. We're also going to onboard new key accounts such as Disney+ and Apple online store in order to drive structural growth of cross-border TPV.
For cross-border off-line, we're expecting notable double-digit growth versus last year. I say this because of; number one, scalability in the outbound market; top-of-mind awareness gained through integrated travel platform called Voyager; and number three, stronger market position in both inbound and outbound market.
In the second half of FY '25, by enabling Android-based NFC, Kakao Pay was integrated with 150 million Mastercard merchants, which is driving TPV in Western markets of Europe and North America. We are making technical and strategic preparations to support iOS-based NFC payment and plan on service rollout in the first half of this year.
With this, users of Kakao Pay can benefit from seamless cross-border payment experience free from the constraint of device or payment method. Now Voyager, which is an integrated platform for traveling, is scheduled for Q1 '26 release. It's more than a simple payment method. Travelers' entire journey is vertically integrated, leveraging data generated from the pre-trip stage upon which optimized payment-related benefit is pushed out to the user when he or she is at the local destination. This is part of an end-to-end travel lock-in strategy, keeping the user to stay on the Kakao Pay platform.
Recently, we are also seeing K-Culture gaining more prominence and foreigners have shown growing interest in taking a trip to Korea, which is translating into a positive inbound performance. As of 2026, number of wallets supported when foreign visitors come to Korea have increased to 31 wallets, including China's Alipay and Japan's PayPay.
Now for general payment, we plan to focus on development and system build-out during the first half of the year, and we'll be able to update you on the concrete rollout plan once it is ready in the second half of the year.
[Interpreted] And we will take the final question.
[Interpreted] The last question will be presented by Jin-Gu Kim from Kiwoom Securities.
[Interpreted] I have a question on the -- an overarching issue, which is recently, we've seen the legislation process for Stablecoin is being delayed. I would like to understand as to how the Stablecoin business is undertaken within Kakao Pay as well as the overarching Kakao Group. From 2 perspective, if you could explain as to respond to the question because you previously mentioned that there is a joint council where Kakao, Kakao Bank and other group affiliates are participating. I would like to know as to whether you're also considering collaboration with third-party partners.
And also, you've mentioned that you are looking at the technical feasibility from a POC perspective across different service domains such as payment, money transfer, et cetera. What would be some concrete and practical use cases that you are currently envisioning? And also, what is the role of Kakao Pay in this greater scheme of things, and what is your differentiating opportunity?
[Interpreted] This is Allen. I would like to respond to your question. And I would like to say that, yes, we are fully aware of the uncertainties regarding Stablecoin-related legislation, regulation and the timeline of such. And we need to make preparation in line with what's happening in Korea as well as globally. So, we are fully mindful of all of these comprehensive factors.
At the group level, together with Kakao, Kakao Bank, we have a council where we talk about digital assets, which also includes Stablecoin. We're not just having internal discussions. We're engaging with third-party partners, Korean and global, in meetings and discussions, talking about multiparty collaboration arrangements, technical connections and division of R&R.
Although I cannot disclose what's under discussion due to reasons of confidentiality and market impact, I can say that such discussions involve partners who can bring synergies to payment, transfers, settlement, which are practical domains.
In terms of use cases, rather than thinking of Stablecoin as new investment product or a stand-alone service, we consider it as a technology that will drive efficiency from the existing payment, money transfer and settlement infrastructure. Internally, scenarios we're looking at includes making cross-border transfer and settlement more efficient, streamlining payment flow on platform and for commerce and enabling what was difficult to implement under the legacy infrastructure such as repetitive or conditional payment.
For these scenarios, rather than showcasing it on the customer-facing interface, Stablecoin will make the internal structure more efficient while user experience and payment and money transfer are left unchanged. The opportunity that we're seeking is not a onetime coin issuance or short-term business case, but one that seamlessly connects to large-scale payment and transfer traffic, which is already used on a daily basis. More concrete plans on business structure and timeline is upcoming once the regulations are set. We will make an update when that time comes.
[Interpreted] This brings us to the end of the fourth quarter 2025 earnings presentation by Kakao Pay. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. For more questions, feel free to contact us at the IR team. Thank you very much.
[Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]
kakaopay — Q3 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, and good evening. Thank you all for joining the conference call for the Kakao Pay Earnings Results. This conference will start with a presentation followed by a Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] Now we will begin the presentation on Kakao Pay's Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2025 Earnings Results.
[Interpreted] Good afternoon. This is Allen, CEO at Kakao Pay. Thank you all for joining our earnings call for the third quarter of 2025.
Let me begin with key metrics for the third quarter '25 and talk about TPV, consolidated operating revenue and expense and P&L, then move on to business highlights for the quarter. First, on key metrics for the third quarter.
Q3 '25 TPV increased 12% year-on-year, reaching KRW 47 trillion. Revenue TPV was KRW 13.4 trillion, up 8% year-over-year. Q3 revenue was up 28% versus Q3 last year, reporting KRW 238.4 billion. Financial service accounted for 40% share of total revenue this quarter, sustaining a salient uptrend. Operating profit in Q3 came in at KRW 15.8 billion, recording a triple-digit figure for the first time. Q3 net profit was KRW 19.1 billion, EBITDA KRW 24.1 billion and financial revenue reported KRW 11.8 billion.
Next on business metrics. Kakao Pay's daily active user count was up 6% year-on-year, reaching 6.56 million, accounting for 27.8% of MAU, which is 2.5 percentage points higher versus last year's third quarter figure of 25.3%. We see cross usage of wide-ranging services offered on platform and higher user visits leading to stronger user stickiness.
Average transaction per user in Q3 was 75, increasing 43% year-on-year. We are seeing balanced growth across payment, MTA, insurance and financial referral services. Q3 ARPU surpassed KRW 10,000 mark following last quarter, reaching KRW 10,103 on the back of top line growth from financial and platform services.
Next, CFO, Aidan, will discuss Q3 TPV and other financials.
[Interpreted] Hello. This is Aidan, the CFO. Q3 TPV was up 12% year-on-year, reaching KRW 47 trillion. Revenue TPV was up 8% year-over-year to KRW 13.4 trillion, and payments and money transfer TPV posted a double-digit growth year-over-year, supporting total TPV growth. Payment service TPV increased 14% year-on-year. And against the holiday season, we ran travel-related promotions on hotels and duty-free shopping, which drove online payment TPV up 6% year-over-year.
And as good deal service, which we launched early this year, took its footing in the market and an expanded coverage for digital payments and the use of government's cash coupons, offline payment TPV increased 46% year-on-year. During summer high season, demand for cross-border payment by outbound tourists increased, driving cross-border TPV up 16% year-on-year.
Revenue from loan service fell year-over-year and Q-on-Q due to stronger government regulation on household loans, but we've been able to minimize the decline through alternative financial product referrals and higher user conversion. Stock trading TPV reached KRW 3.4 trillion, up 2.7x year-over-year. With the boost in stock trading, money transferred to my own account increased with TPV for money transfer going up 13% year-on-year. Outstanding balance for Kakao Pay money account was KRW 2,096.1 billion as of end of Q3, breaking the KRW 2 trillion mark for the first time.
Next is operating revenue. Q3 revenue was up 28% year-on-year to KRW 238.4 billion. Financial service posted 72% year-on-year growth and platform service 69%, which drove top line growth, while payment service grew 6%, underpinning total revenue basis. Financial service revenue posted 72% year-on-year growth, reaching KRW 94.7 billion on the back of steep growth from investment and insurance services despite lower loan brokerage revenue following the impact of government's household loan regulation.
Payment service saw revenue growth across online, offline and cross-border with total revenue up 6% year-on-year to KRW 129.7 billion. What's noteworthy is offline and cross-border payments, which have greater upside potential, sustaining a double-digit growth trend driving the top line for payment services. We also saw top line uptrends continue for investment and insurance services under our digital finance business.
With domestic and overseas stock trading volume growing by more than twofold, investment service revenue increased 155% year-on-year, while insurance service recorded 72% year-over-year growth on the back of stable growth from our core offerings and revenue growth from mid- to longer-term products and increase in insurance DB sales. Platform service saw 69% year-over-year growth, mainly due to top line growth from advertisement and card recommendation services.
Q3 operating expense was down 14.9% year-on-year and 2.8% Q-on-Q, reaching KRW 222.5 billion. Marketing expense for the quarter increased 44.6% year-on-year because of reward programs used to expand our offline payment coverage, but nonetheless, is still kept at 10% of revenue. Commissions saw an increase on the back of increase in agency fees following revenue growth from our major services, therefore, rising 9.1% year-on-year.
Next is P&L. Q3 consolidated operating profit was KRW 15.8 billion, posting 69% increase Q-on-Q after the turnaround made in the first quarter. Net profit and EBITDA recorded KRW 19.1 billion and KRW 24.1 billion, respectively, recording a double-digit. With the focus on top line growth accompanied with margin improvements, Kakao Pay's profit structure is becoming positively stronger. Underpinned by solid revenue base, we will drive profit-centric growth and continue to expand on the top line of financial subsidiaries and platform so as to strengthen monetization across the company.
Q3 separate basis revenue was up 9.6% year-on-year and 2.3% Q-on-Q, reporting KRW 171 billion, sustaining an uptrend. Quarterly operating profit was KRW 9.6 billion with OP margin at 5.6%. Net profit came in at KRW 15.6 billion.
Next, we will have Jason run through key highlights of our business for the third quarter.
[Interpreted] Hello. This is Jason. First, on the payment business. Kakao Pay adopted NFC solution to cross-border payments for the first time amongst Korea's digital pay service providers. We've expanded the scope to 150 million Mastercard merchants across the Americas, Europe and Oceania, driving global usage. And based on strategic alliance with Alipay+, we will offer unmatched convenience and benefits to Kakao Pay user base in the overseas markets and solidify our positioning as #1 cross-border payment platform.
We will also be offering mini programs to build on a wider range of benefit offerings overseas. Mini program allows for discovery of promotions such as discounts and free gifts at global merchants inside the Kakao Pay app without needing to download locally based applications. We are currently getting things ready for services across more than 20 global markets, including China, Japan, Europe and France and plan to add mini programs across various verticals like hotels, air flights, taxis and trains.
Next is on platform services. Based on our quality MyData and payment data, Kakao Pay's platform revenue posted 69% year-on-year growth, becoming a new growth engine for the company. With targeted ads supported by data entering into the growth trajectory, ad service revenue sustained steep growth trend of 88% year-on-year, similar to that of last quarter. Based on MyData analytics, we were able to precisely capture financial needs and preferences of users, driving the evolution of ad services to a higher level of efficiencies.
We also cemented our #1 market share status in card recommendation services, reporting high rate of revenue growth of 148% year-over-year. In particular, there was more than 340,000 travel log card issuance on a cumulative basis as Q3 was holiday season with many taking travels overseas.
Next, Jeff, who is in charge of services, will discuss AI-related development.
[Interpreted] Hello. This is Jeff. Last October, we opened our second AI service, AI for card and payment benefits in its beta version. It is a service helping individuals spend more wisely, leveraging MyData payment track record on users' preferred brands and buying patterns, recommending the most optimal payment method and payment benefits, both on and offline as well as recommending credit cards that best fit pattern of use, all powered by AI. In the upcoming main version, advice given will be more thorough based on deep dive analysis on spending and card usage habits specific to each user.
Second, now let me update you on the work being done to connect with Kakao's Agentic AI platform. Agentic AI platform for Kakao allows for easy connection to wide-ranging new AI services of Kakao without the need for additional resource input. The configuration is agent to agent, ensuring secure privacy and service usage. Right now, Kakao Pay is making preparations to specifically connect with ChatGPT for Kakao and Kanana in KakaoTalk.
So in steps or in phases, if you first look at Phase 1, we will be embedding Kakao Pay features in ChatGPT for Kakao. And in Phase 2, we will leverage A2A configuration to connect AI and Kanana. In Phase 3, we developed an architecture using Play MCP to allow Kakao AI service to use data from Kakao Pay. And in Phase 4, we will set up standard payment protocols to build payment agent, thereby completing a closed-loop payment circle housed inside Kakao's agent. It's too early to specify the timing of the launch, but we are carrying forward expeditiously to drive meaningful service outcome by next year.
Next, Eddie will walk you through the business performances of Kakao Pay Securities and Insurance.
[Interpreted] Hello. This is Eddie leading our operations. Stock trading volume at Kakao Pay Securities posted explosive growth, driving Q3 operating profit up 3x versus last quarter, coming in at KRW 15.6 billion. Q3 stock trading TPV was up 173% year-on-year to KRW 34 trillion with number of trading growing 337% year-on-year, reaching 140 million transactions. Monthly user count also went up 214% year-on-year, surpassing 1.03 million customers. Not only overseas trading, but domestic TPV also recorded 3-digit growth, sustaining an uptrend in overall performance metrics. Total asset under deposit increased 127% to KRW 7.3 trillion for the same period on the back of rise in stock balance following the uptrend in trading volume.
In the third quarter, Pay Security focused on scaling up community-related features, which drove MAU up 2.8x year-on-year and 2x Q-over-Q, reaching 710,000 users. We have also topic-based chat rooms where investment relevant point of interests are offered on top of information on individual stock names, and we have adopted stronger gamification features with profit verify and leaderboards supporting our community users. Having a stronger community-based feature is considered our key growth pillar for security services, and we plan to continue to focus on further upgrades.
Next is on Pay Insurance. On the back of top line growth, we've been able to sustain a performance uptrend. And during 2025, we continue to launch new products distinctive to KakaoPay Insurance as we broadened our portfolio and with the growth in the number of new insured users and rise in the share of regular premium income, we were able to grow the size of our business. As such, gross premium written for Q3 was up 38% year-on-year, reporting KRW 16.4 billion. Regular premium products such as mobile phone insurance, driver insurance and insurance for toddlers, children and students have been uptrending with a number of new insured users rising by 20% year-over-year to reach 830,000. Recurring premium, which formed the basis of revenue growth, increased by 5x versus last year, increasing its share by 18.9 percentage points to 26.1% against total premium written.
I will now have Allen back to discuss ESG and plans going forward, and then we will wrap up the presentation.
[Interpreted] This is Allen again. Kakao Pay has earned great recognition of its ESG management from global assessment. Kakao Pay is maintaining A rating from MSCI ESG ratings since its first upgrade back in April of '25. We were recognized for expanding financial accessibility to small business operators and for those who are financially vulnerable and for having an excellent human resources development program. Also, Sustainalytics, which is a subsidiary of global investment research firm Morningstar, assessed the company as having low ESG risk in its review, recognizing Kakao Pay's good risk management practices.
In terms of shared growth initiatives, in collaboration with Social Solidarity Bank, we raised funds to support digital infrastructure for business owners and small merchants across the nation and ran digital infrastructure campaigns based on the alliance with VAN and POS partners. We also held financial classes and career camp for young adolescents. We hosted Blind Spot Pay School Junior Camp, inviting students from schools in remote areas to close down the regional gap in financial education. We invited 130 students from 4 different schools, and the camp and experience lasted for 3 days covering various topics across finance, jobs, careers and culture.
And together with Pay Insurance, we began console and build her project in order to help young adult victims of jeonse housing scam. We ran fundraising to help these victims in their recovery process and supported them with repairs of their homes. Kakao Pay will continue to engage in ESG activities aligned with our business direction to live up to our corporate responsibilities and to open up a sustainable future.
I've so far walked through key highlights for Q3 of 2025. Since making a turnaround in consolidated operating profit in the first quarter, Q3 operating profit increased 69.4% Q-on-Q and OP margin for the first time recorded a high single-digit. Kakao Pay has steadily proven its earnings growth capacity and potential, while new growth levers, which we planned for at the beginning of the year, have now taken firm positioning, serving as robust new engine for growth. Despite a big impact from regulation during the third quarter, Financial Service posted 72% growth, underpinned by stepwise growth from investment and insurance businesses, while payment service grew its top line to KRW 130 billion, thanks to a solid uptrend. Platform Service, which is our new business, also posted a year-over-year growth of 69%.
In particular, 2025 was a year during which our core strategies of data-powered business development and platform business expansion, which are based on massive user pool and quality traffic have been tested and their potentials have translated into tangible results. I believe this creates a strong basis for us to design next year's plan as well. We will fine-tune innovative ideas in the making as we look forward to 2026, and we'll have an opportunity to share greater detail in our next earnings call.
All of the crew at Kakao Pay, myself included, will endeavor to create a better tomorrow and better future using our unrivaled technology, making Kakao Pay a platform where all of the users' daily financial needs are met. Thank you.
[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] The first question will be provided by Sinyoung Park from Goldman Sachs.
2. Question Answer
[Interpreted] I am Park Sinyoung from Goldman Sachs. I would like to ask you 2 questions. The first question relates to your platform business. We see that the numbers in terms of the revenue growth has been quite steep. I would like to understand, going forward, what will be the share of this business against your total revenue base? And with the growth in platform revenue, would it also accompany the same amount of increase in marketing spend? Or with the increase in the top line revenue, would there be a margin improvement, hence, less extent of marketing spend is required. So I would like to gain some color there.
Second question has to do with your competitors and peers in the market are quite proactively supplying devices the terminal devices for the payment terminals that is in the offline market. I'm just wondering if -- whether you're not joining in on that competition. And if that is the case, what is your outlook in terms of how this market will go going forward? So basically, my question is, what is your strategy and approach to gain an upper hand in the offline segment of the market?
[Interpreted] Yes. This is Jason. Responding to your first question, as you've mentioned, we've seen across advertisement, card and telecom plan referrals all expand very quickly, driving total platform revenue up by 69% year-over-year. To give you the breakdown, ad revenue was up 88% year-on-year, whilst card referral service was up by 148%. Now platform accounts for about 6% of revenue, which is a rise of 2 percentage points from last year's 4%. It's still a small size, but rate of growth is relatively high. And so its share of total revenue currently is single-digit.
We think growth will continue to be quite steep going forward. And Kakao Pay's strength as MyData provider will obviously underpin the model buildup for card and advertisement business, which are efficient and reasonable, and we will be continuously upgrading our business strategy, and we'll be able to sustain a double-digit growth next year.
Now we believe that Kakao Pay has a lot of potential in ad business as we are the everyday financial life platform for our users. MyData and payment data is Kakao Pay's competitive edge and priority is to differentiate ourselves by upgrading targeted ads based on these capabilities. In terms of the ad product, we will directly provide user benefits, so users and advertisers can grow together hand-in-hand. And through adtech-linked ads, which is a segment of the ad market that's really growing, we want to strengthen the touch point between users and advertisers through the offering of such benefits. Last but not least, in 2026, by connecting up with various ads network, we will diversify our ad product to adopt new formats and ad creative.
Our approach to ad business will be to maximize efficiency based on the traffic and convert growth in [ PV, ] which is fundamental to Kakao Pay as a whole in order to place momentum behind our top line growth. And if we can upgrade personalization and make the link between the users' point of interest and the ad product, we believe we can reduce customer fatigue toward ad impressions while enhancing efficiencies. But marketing spend, obviously, will be required to increase advertisement efficiency for the advertisers and for the user benefit as we leverage adtech linked ads and DA, the display ads. We're also planning on using MyData and AI to personalize recommendations for card and telecom service referrals and expand customers' touch points using AI agents and through the web channels. So we're planning on profit-driven expansion by focusing on the issuances of telecom cards. This approach will ensure growth and keep marketing costs predictable and under control.
[Interpreted] Hello. This is Jeff. Taking your second question, Kakao Pay is #1 offline payment service provider with more than 600,000 merchants and highest PU and TRX metrics among the digital pay operators. Competitor strategy of deploying offline devices is asset heavy, entailing big amount of CapEx, and it has 2 issues. Because its focus is on long-tail merchants, there is limitation on targeting large franchises and not enough revenue can be gained through simply payment fees. Second, there's a risk of triggering competition with legacy infrastructure players like the VANs and the POS companies.
On the other hand, Kakao Pay adopts an asset-light strategy, maximizing revenues for merchants and value for users with a focus on digital channel and not the hardware. To users, we deliver ongoing benefits, coupons, good deal offerings, hyper-personalized benefits. And by incorporating table order QR code, ZeroPay and Samsung Pay, we will be driving growth in both number of users and transactions. And to the merchant operators, we will soon deliver marketing tools for them to drive their actual sales growth on top of simple payment tools. We finished our first phase usability enhancement and will speed up release and verification of winning marketing tools in collaboration with Kakao and its affiliates. As such, under a stretch goal, we will continue to expand on PU, TRX transaction status and active merchant base next year as well.
[Interpreted] Next question, please.
[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Jin-Gu Kim from Kiwoom Securities.
[Interpreted] I have 2 questions I would like to ask. First is, I would like to gain an update on what your approach is regarding the stablecoin initiative. We are expecting to see the legislation be complete before the end of the year. I would like to understand what Kakao Pay is doing in regards to the stablecoin initiative. And also, one of your competitors have announced that they will enter into a stock swap with a key virtual asset exchange. I would like to know what your strategy is? Do you believe or do you have a -- I believe that you would have a certain advantage considering the fact that you have quite a bit of touch point with your user base. I would like to know as to what your differentiating factor could be in line of the developments that we are seeing in the market.
Second question is on your securities business. We see the asset market, the capital markets of Korea and U.S. all kind of showing an upward trajectory. If we look at your Q3 numbers in terms of TPV number of transactions as well as number of customers, we see a continuing uptrend. Can you give us a split between domestic versus overseas? And in terms of your quarterly profit improvement, what is the key driver behind this? And what is your strategy for 2026?
[Interpreted] So this is Allen, CEO. Responding to your first question. Yes, discussions are ongoing around stablecoin, around national assembly, the regulator and the industry. And we consider this provides an opportunity in the process of digital financial infrastructure transition. So we're working together within the group to develop plans and make those plans more concrete while closely following the policy direction. And now that, fortunately, the uncertainties around the Kakao Group have somewhat been mitigated, although we're still a bit cautious, I can say with some comfort that we will tap into these opportunities more proactively from now on.
Now we've been preparing various practical use cases headed by Kakao Group's joint task force team. We're designing it so that the solution can be used across group -- across the group for different applications and not just for Kakao Pay, spanning platform and content business as well, which are close to the daily lives of people. And taking a step further, we're also closely discussing with global players to create use cases for both domestic and for global applications.
Now on the tech and compliance side, we are running checks and implementations. We have gained prior experience in implementing the service and digital wallet-based infrastructure gained from early participation in the CBDC simulation project by Bank of Korea. And just like U.S., Singapore, Japan, we're referencing models that have KYC, know your customer and AML and travel rules embedded to develop on that best fits the Korean requirement.
Setting aside whether the role of cryptocurrency exchange is helpful or otherwise, it's difficult to say things definitively because of too much uncertainties. But for create stablecoin business, there will be many options to choose from, depending on the scenario of how the discipline of separation of financial and virtual assets evolve and depending on the role of the cryptocurrency exchange going forward. So we will respond and design our approach accordingly.
[Interpreted] This is Eddie. Responding to your second question on our securities business. First, stock trading volume moved from KRW 23.5 trillion in the second quarter to KRW 34.1 trillion in Q3, going up 45% Q-on-Q and 173% year-over-year, sustaining high quarterly uptrend. Domestic volume increased 41% Q-on-Q and 151% Y-o-Y, while overseas volume growth was higher at 49% Q-on-Q and 192% Y-o-Y. Overseas versus domestic trading split was 57% to 43%. And number of stock trading moved from 91 million in Q2 to 141 million in Q3, going up 55% Q-o-Q and 337% Y-o-Y. Higher growth was seen in overseas trading and the split between overseas versus domestic was 86% versus 14% on a number of trade basis.
Pay Securities seems to have now entered its secular growth cycle. So not only in terms of volume and transaction count, overall business metrics from number of customers, accounts, deposit assets and margin loans are all up trending, and we expect such trend to continue. MTS user count surpassed 1 million. And on that basis, we are now top 5 securities firm. And in terms of new account openings of 80,000 to 100,000 and new customer count, we ranked #1 in Q3, displaying fastest growth rate. Operating profit in Q3 went up 3x Q-on-Q to KRW 15.6 billion and driven by high-margin businesses of overseas stock trade and IB revenue, Q3 OP margin recorded 27%, which is up 19 percentage points Q-o-Q.
In 2026, we will work under 3 strategies, which we'll be able to share with you in more detail in our next call. But the first driver is new account openings; second, uptrending active customer conversion; and third, unparalleled feature and convenience built up based upon customers' VOC. We will scale up customer funnel through distinctive community feature, which is highly correlated with conversion and through AI-powered investment insight. We expect our formula for success in active customer conversion will run seamlessly next year as well, thereby expanding the active customer pool through such high engagement strategy.
[Interpreted] Due to the time constraint, we will take the final question.
[Interpreted] The last question will be presented by Dong Woo Kim from Kyobo Securities.
[Interpreted] I have 2 questions, I would like to ask. Recently, global AI service providers, including OpenAI, have opened up their payment-related protocols, agent to agent and really building upon the alliance. I would like to understand, since you're also making preparations to couple with the KakaoTalk agent, I would like to know how you're going to interact with the off-platform ecosystem? What are the preparations that's currently taking place?
Second question has to do with your insurance business. We see that your DB sales has been uptrending and your insurance sales was also quite good. Do you expect to be able to achieve that growth rate next year as well? And what are some of the additional strategies that you are envisioning for your insurance business next year?
[Interpreted] Hello. This is Jeff. Responding to your first question on AI. I see that ACP, Agentic Commerce Protocol announced by OpenAI is really a signal that agentic commerce market is now starting to take off. And this really is an opportunity for us and not a threat. Our strategy is quite clear. As OpenAI's ACP cannot yet come to Korea, we want to present Korean-style ACP model, one that is optimal for Kakao AI agent ecosystem rather than simply waiting. There are 3 rationales to support this approach.
First, we already have internalized core technology stack to implement ACP, and we are making preparations for its application in the AI agent environment. Core technology for ACP is security protocol using one-time secure payment token. We can use payment tokenization, FIDO-based simple authentication and AI-powered [ SVS, ] which Kakao Pay has been operating stably over many years. In a nutshell, we are already equipped with best technology and operational capacity that can immediately implement ACP-grade safe and scalable payment protocol, which is essential for AI agent.
And second is our unparalleled positioning in the Kakao ecosystem. Success of AI agent payment will be dictated by who can offer the most seamless and perfect payment experience in the agent chat on KakaoTalk. Based on stable and deep coupling with Kakao's AI agent, Kakao Pay is the only partner that can deliver reliable and easy-to-use payment experience to 40 million KakaoTalk users. No other global player can take that edge away from us.
Based on such unchallenged market positioning and confidence in our technology, we are working on developing an official proposal for tech and business collaboration with Kakao and affiliate partners. Once the discussion ends, we will go right into prototype development and testing. It's hard to specify the launching time line yet, but we are moving ahead with speed under the goal of bringing tangible results by next year. In short, if OpenAI is presenting global standards, Kakao Pay would make and lead standards for Korea's AI payment market.
[Interpreted] This is Eddie again. Responding to your question on insurance. We sell insurance products through our subsidiary, Pay Insurance, while winning prospects from Kakao Pay's insurance platform and triggering needs so as to lead to the signing of insurance contracts. KakaoPay Insurance is targeting higher growth next year and will support that with new and differentiated product releases. But existing product lineup is also as important. So we will enhance product competitiveness, reposition products and services if need arises, drive up awareness for paying insurance products and grow the share of regular premium products.
Now for instance, as initiatives, we can develop products and services to target age groups where penetration is still low and seasonal coverage for products could be offered that show strong seasonality or we could also do cross-selling and expand on the embedded channel. And in terms of insurance platform business, we could expand on the pool of prospective using MyData insight, upgrade targeted marketing based on user status and segmentation, which will drive more than 200% top line growth versus 2025. Next year, we're expecting MyData user growth and through activities focused on lead creation, we expect to be able to sustain the growth trajectory.
In addition, we are seeking additional revenue stream from acquisition commissions from direct counseling to overcome the constraints of database sales, which create friction in delivering consistent customer experience and complaints arising from margin-driven sales practice rather than placing customers at the center. So last September, we started sub-agency-based channel for selling and providing consultations on insurance products going through our subsidiary, KP Insurance Service. We're leveraging our know-how and capabilities of the agent organization and offering comparisons powered by data and AI-driven system as well as providing analysis on coverage and supporting counseling to drive up conversion above market average so that we may attain the upside.
[Interpreted] Thank you. This brings us to the end of the earnings presentation of Kakao Pay for the third quarter of 2025. Thank you very much for your time. And if you still have unanswered questions, feel free to contact us at the IR team. Thank you.
[Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]
Financial data from kakaopay
Revenue
Revenue is the sum of all sales generated by a company, e.g. for its products or services.
Revenue (TTM) metric explainedDirect Costs
Direct costs are the costs incurred directly in connection with the manufacture of the product or service.
Gross Profit
Gross Profit indicates how much of the revenue remains in the company after deducting direct production costs. If the percentage share of sales is calculated, this is referred to as the gross margin.
Gross Profit metric explainedSelling and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) include all expenses for marketing and sales as well as the general administration of the company.
Research and Development Expense
Research and development costs (R&D) provide information on how much the company invests in the research and development of its products. The costs are particularly interesting as a percentage of revenue and in comparison to direct competitors.
EBITDA
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The EBITDA margin is calculated as a percentage of sales.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation represents reductions in the value of the company's assets (e.g. due to wear and tear on machinery).
EBIT (Operating Income)
EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) is the company's profit before interest and taxes, also known as the operating income. The EBIT Margin is calculated as a percentage of sales at
.
Net Profit
Net Profit represents the profit or loss after deduction of all costs.
Net Profit metric explainedStocksGuide Premium
| Jun '26 |
+/-
%
|
||
| Revenue | 1,143,543 1,143,543 |
34%
34%
100%
|
|
| - Direct Costs | - - |
-
-
|
|
| Gross Profit | - - |
-
-
|
|
| - Selling and Administrative Expenses | - - |
-
-
|
|
| - Research and Development Expense | - - |
-
-
|
|
| EBITDA | 178,889 178,889 |
621%
621%
16%
|
|
| - Depreciation and Amortization | 51,415 51,415 |
0%
0%
4%
|
|
| EBIT (Operating Income) EBIT | 127,474 127,474 |
576%
576%
11%
|
|
| Net Profit | 87,756 87,756 |
1,787%
1,787%
8%
|
|
In millions KRW.
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Company Profile
Kakaopay Corp. engages in providing mobile payment and digital wallet services. The company was founded on April 3, 2017 and is headquartered in Seongnam-si, South Korea.
StocksGuide Premium
| Head office | South Korea |
| CEO | Mr. Shin |
| Employees | 1,080 |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Website | www.kakaopay.com |
