Lee Seung-geun, CEO of Toss (operated by Viva Republica), said he is expecting Toss to achieve an annual surplus last year. He also explained that it is Toss's role to comply with the financial authorities amid the recent controversy over favoritism.
At a press conference titled "Toss 10th anniversary, new starting line" held on the morning of the 26th at Anderson's in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, Lee noted in response to a question about last year's performance, "Although the audit has not yet been completed, it is true that we expect an annual surplus," adding, "From this year, we aim to generate record profits as our business goal."
In response to a question about the recent controversy over favoritism, which arose after the Financial Supervisory Service revealed that Lee's disciplinary action had been reduced by two levels in the process of sanctioning Toss, he stated, "There is nothing more to explain since Toss is a supervised agency," but added, "It is our (Toss's) role to comply well with the financial authorities' sanctions decisions."
Additionally, at the event, Lee emphasized the expansion of the newly introduced facial recognition payment system, stating, "We will be the first in the industry to implement a pre-emptive compensation system that compensates customers before the cause of payment errors is identified." He further stated the goal of growing into a global service where more than half of users are foreigners within five years.
On that day, Toss shared its achievements over the past decade and its future vision and direction. During the meeting, Toss explained its future business plans under three themes: ▲ beyond finance to everyday life ▲ beyond online to offline ▲ beyond South Korea to global.
First, Toss aims to evolve beyond a financial super app to an "everyday super app." Toss plans to not only provide services on its own but also adopt a method of consolidating services from partner companies and startups into the Toss app. In this regard, there is a plan to support startups with a total of 1 trillion won over the next five years.
Toss is also accelerating innovations in offline payments. Starting with partnerships with three convenience store chains, FacePay, which has entered the offline payment market, is expected to usher in an era where payments can be made without a wallet. The Toss Place payment terminals have surpassed 100,000 merchants as of this month. To facilitate this expansion into offline markets, Toss has announced investments in security system development, international standard and information protection certifications, and enhanced customer protection and compensation policies.
Furthermore, Toss presented its vision for global expansion. The plan is to rapidly spread the innovative experiences of its financial super app, which are difficult to find elsewhere in the world. The goal is to grow Toss into a global service where about half of the users are foreigners within five years. Lee stated, "Toss will become the financial super app for people around the world, and we would appreciate your warm support."