Toss Securities announced Tuesday that it has named Kim Seung-yeon, general manager of TikTok’s Southeast Asia global business solution, as its new CEO.

Born in 1980, Korean American Kim is known to be a marketing expert with over 15 years of experience in the field.

“Our current CEO Oh Chang-hoon wants to focus on his original CTO position and contribute to the firm further in that capacity. Although Oh still has remaining tenure, we have decided to name a new CEO,” a Toss Securities official told The Korea Herald.

Oh took the office in July 2022 and has been focusing on stabilizing the company’s technological systems, Toss Securities said.

The decision to appoint Kim as the new CEO came as a surprise to many industry insiders as Kim does not have any experience working in the finance industry.

“Neither our current CEO Oh, nor our first CEO Park Jae-min, were experts in finance. What we look into when appointing new CEOs is the values that they can bring to our firm,” the Toss Securities official explained.

Kim's appointment will be finalized at the shareholders' meeting, slated for Mar. 30. If Kim takes the office as planned, he will lead the company for two years starting on April 3.