Kyobo Life Group is expanding its digital-asset business across its financial affiliates, centered on insurance and securities. The group said it plans to proactively test business models spanning on-chain finance, from premium payments and insurance payouts to the issuance and distribution of real-world assets, or RWAs, and tokenized securities.

Park Jin-ho, a vice president at Kyobo Life Insurance, outlined the plan at the "Bridging Finance Onchain" event held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul's Jongno district on October 1.

"Kyobo Group sees the shift to on-chain finance not as a simple technology trend, but as a mid- to long-term business task," Park said. "The key question is no longer whether to participate in on-chain finance, but which financial functions should move on-chain, when and how."

Kyobo Life is preparing to adopt on-chain finance in two areas first: asset management and insurance. On the asset side, it is reviewing ways to use tokenized government bonds, funds and RWAs in its portfolio. On the customer side, it is testing how to link premium collection and insurance payouts to on-chain infrastructure.

Kyobo Life has already conducted 10 proof-of-concept projects with domestic and overseas partners. The projects include purchases of overseas stocks and bonds using dollar stablecoins, the tokenization of real assets such as real estate and wine, and on-chain processing of premium payments and death-benefit payouts.

Park said insurance is not a payments business and requires accident verification, reviews of payout eligibility and customer-protection procedures. Rather than moving all operations at once, the company plans to connect functions in stages, starting with areas it can validate first.

"Kyobo chose verification over observation," he added. The group plans to start with proof-of-concept work, move to pilots in actual operating environments and turn those efforts into business models if commercial viability is confirmed.

Kyobo Securities is focused on building an "asset layer" to create digital assets for end investors. Shin Hee-jin, a director at Kyobo Securities, described the role of securities firms across four areas: underwriting, brokerage, distribution and trust.

He said securities firms must source and structure assets, turn them into securities and connect them with investors. They also need to handle liquidity and price discovery, along with disclosure, suitability checks and investor protection.

Kyobo Securities has also been running pilot projects involving various digital assets since 2024. It has tested the securitization of new asset classes such as premium wine and concert intellectual property, or IP, while also reviewing the tokenization of traditional financial assets including money market funds, or MMFs, and unlisted shares.

The brokerage is also studying ways to use tokenized MMFs as on-chain cash-equivalent assets, including as collateral for repurchase agreements, or repos, and as margin.

Shin said the company concluded from those cases that it could not simply wait for regulation to be put in place. It needs to be ready to respond immediately once rules are established and the market opens.

Kyobo Life Group said it eventually plans to connect its insurance and securities units to on-chain infrastructure and develop that into an operating financial business.

"Finance in the future will not move forward by choosing either traditional finance or on-chain finance," Park said. "The core issue is not which one replaces the other, but how to connect the strengths of both."