LINE, the mobile messenger app of South Korea’s leading online portal Naver, will establish its subsidiary, LINE Financial, followed by its mobile payment app, LINE Pay, in order to strengthen its financial services.
LINE Pay is a sharply growing financial operation with its annual payment amount globally exceeding 450 billion yen ($4.1 billion) last year and the number of its registered users reaching 40 million. LINE, through the establishment of its new business, aims to expand its financial services to insurances, loans, virtual currency trades, and exchanges.
“In addition to the high level of security that LINE has cultivated through its messenger services, it aims to actively promote research and development of technologies such as blockchain and to provide convenient and safe financial services to users,” said LINE in a press release. LINE already applied to register as virtual currency exchanger in the Financial Services Agency of Japan, which is currently screening the application.
President Idezawa Takeshi of LINE will become the president and CEO of LINE Financial. The amount of total capital is 5 billion yen ($46 million).
