Kakao Pay Corp. (A377300) Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[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.

[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.]