Woori, KT plan joint venture for data-based financial services

From left: Woori Bank CEO Kwon Kwang-seok, KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo, Woori Financial Group Chairman Sohn Tae-seung and BC Card CEO Lee Dong-myun pose at an MOU signing ceremony on Aug. 19. [WOORI BANK]

Woori Financial Group and KT are planning to form a joint venture to collaborate on data-based financial services including MyData, the government-led project to give people more control of their financial data.

Woori and KT on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate in various fields where digital solutions meet finance, ranging from artificial intelligence (AI) and data businesses to cloud services in the wake of the rapid emergence of technology companies like Kakao and Naver moving into finance recently.

MyData will be one of the first areas the two companies collaborate on.

The government-led project allows customers to have more integrated control over their personal financial data ranging from online shopping data to offline transaction information. The organized set of data is expected to offer more personalized products.

The legal base for the implementation of MyData business went into effect on Aug. 5.

The two companies said the latest partnership will give them an upper hand in collecting more data on the back of their large customer base and experience in each industry, allowing them to provide differentiated services to their clients.

Woori and KT will also co-develop an authentication system so that making financial transactions through non-face-to-face channels becomes easier.

Card companies affiliated to each company will also look for ways to cooperate on MyPayment, which is slated to be implemented next year. MyPayment allows non-banking financial institutions to offer payments without having direct access to customers’ accounts.

BC Card, an affiliate of KT, as well as Woori Bank and Woori Card will come up with integrated transaction platforms and work on joint marketing strategies.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]