Korea’s Mirae Asset Moves to Buy Japan’s Sanko Securities for $35.5 Million

The South Korean financial firm's board approved the acquisition on Thursday, according to a regulatory filing. The purchase price of 47.6 billion won will be fixed at closing, pending regulatory approvals and Sanko's board approval. Mirae's US subsidiary will receive 12 billion yen from its parent company to finance the deal, with part covering the shares and the remainder going to Sanko after closing.

The acquisition gives Mirae a registered securities firm in Japan, where retail broker traffic is increasing. Organic visits from Japan to retail FX and CFD broker websites tracked by FM Intelligence rose 18.5% quarter-over-quarter to 6.6 million in Q3 2026, despite a 33% decline in traffic from the broader Asia-Pacific region.

Market Entry Strategy

Japan's retail market already hosts over 150 providers and more than 3 million active FX trading accounts. Foreign brokers have typically entered through local subsidiaries, such as Interactive Brokers' Japanese arm adding tax-free NISA accounts in mid-2025, or by acquiring existing firms. Mirae follows the latter approach, buying Sanko instead of applying for a new license.

Previous M&A in Japan's online brokerage sector has been rare. In 2020, Gaitame (owned by Swiss-listed Compagnie Financière Tradition) acquired FX clients from Livestar Securities, and SBI Holdings later bought the remaining stake in Livestar.

Business Expansion Plans

Sanko currently trades stocks, bonds, and other securities with proprietary capital, reporting net assets of 39.1 billion won and net profit of approximately 400 million won for the year ending March 2026. Mirae plans to expand these trading operations, broaden financial product sales, and eventually operate a full retail brokerage in Japan.

A retail business would compete with established players like Rakuten Securities, which surpassed 14 million accounts in April. The venture would also navigate Japan's enhanced login security requirements, implemented after account hijackings worth over 500 billion yen between March and May 2025 led 76 brokerages to mandate multifactor authentication.

Financial Context

The 12 billion yen injection from Mirae's parent represents about 0.75% of Mirae's 13.48 trillion won in equity at the end of 2025, below the 2.5% threshold requiring mandatory disclosure. The Sanko acquisition price is approximately one-tenth of the 480 billion won Mirae agreed to pay for Indian broker Sharekhan in December 2023.

Mirae first announced its interest in a Japanese acquisition on August 27, 2026, after reports indicated it and Toss Securities were preparing to enter the market. The company later called the matter undecided on September 23, marking a reversal from its previous withdrawal from Japan in 2016 under its former name, Mirae Asset Daewoo.