NH Investment & Securities plans to extend its unique product of offering an annual interest rate of 4.5 percent. Photo courtesy of NH Investment & Securities

Brokerage house tries to attract customers

NH Investment & Securities announced June 1 that the Seoul-based company plans to extend its unique product of offering an annual interest rate of 4.5 percent.

Earlier this year, the brokerage house joined hands with Kakao Bank to come up with the product to attract more than 1 trillion won in around 470,000 accounts.

A new customer can save up to 500,000 won per month in the account over the six-month period to savor the 4.5-percent pre-tax interest rate.

When the number of new customers reaches 40,000, however, the scheme might come to an end, according to NH Securities.

“We have thought of what our customers want at this age when the interest rate approaches zero percent,” an NH Securities official said. “We will keep attempting to offer what our clients want.”

Last month, the Bank of Korea slashed the benchmark interest rate to a historic-low 0.5 percent to grapple with the economic downturn caused by the novel COVID-19 coronavirus.

Observers point out that customers are now rushing to any financial products whose interest rates are higher than 3 percent as the benchmark rate continues to go down.

"The Bank of Korea keeps slashing the key rates to deal with the virus-caused economic troubles. This is leading to low interest rates for any savings or investment accounts," said a source in the financial industry.

"Against this backdrop, any savings or investment accounts with an interest rate of almost 5 percent would attract great popularity."

NH Securities was launched in 2006 when Sejong Securities was incorporated into the National Agricultural Cooperate Federation, otherwise known as Nonghyup.

Currently, CEO Jeong Young-chae is heading the outfit whose biggest shareholder is NH Financial Group. Its stake is 76.09 percent.
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