The Seoul-headquartered firm, a subsidiary of Hanwha Life and the largest shareholder of Hanwha Investment & Securities, offers a full range of financial investment products in equities, fixed income, alternative investments and multi-asset strategies in Korea and beyond.
Singapore-based capital markets platform iSTOX has received a $5 million investment from South Korea-based asset management firm Hanwha, the company announced in a statement posted on its blog on Tuesday.
The partnership follows earlier investments into the blockchain-enabled platform, which offers end-to-end issuance, custody, and trading of digitized securities, by Thailand's Kiatnakin Phatra Financial Group and Japan's Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings.
«As iSTOX continues to grow, our relationships with partners like Hanwha are allowing us to build a powerful foundation to develop iSTOX into a pioneering service that addresses the evolving needs of 21st century investors,» said Danny Toe, founder and CEO of Singapore-based ICHX Tech, iSTOX's parent company.
Fully Operational in 2020
iSTOX is backed by the likes of Singapore Exchange, Temasek Holdings subsidiary Heliconia and ICH Group. It is expected to graduate from the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Fintech Regulatory Sandbox and enter full operation in the first quarter of 2020.
According to the firm, it leverages advanced smart contract and distributed ledger technology to streamline the issuance and trading process, and offers investment options that were previously inaccessible.
As its grows its base of issuers and investors, iSTOX has built an experienced team, which includes former Monetary Authority of Singapore deputy director Lim Mei Shen, who was hired in September as its chief compliance officer, and UBS managing director and head of Singapore corporate client solutions Choo Oi Yee as its chief commercial officer in January 2020.
