Industrial Financial institution of Korea (IBK) received “Finest Cellular Monetary App” class on the 2024 Finovate Awards. Rising victorious from a subject of six spectacular finalists, Industrial Financial institution of Korea’s i-ONE Financial institution app received over our judges for its “nice set of options” within the phrases of 1 evaluator, and its “clean and clear UX/UI,” within the phrases of one other.
“This cell app seems to do all of it,” yet one more decide stated, “It was particularly good to see that it offers clients quite a lot of choices for log-in and personalization of the consumer expertise. They’ve clearly centered on safety and made certain there are numerous totally different capabilities accessible, even forex trade.”
We caught up with Kim Sung-tae, CEO of Industrial Financial institution of Korea, to study extra in regards to the establishment’s award-winning cell banking app and what units it other than rivals within the Korean market. We additionally focus on the financial institution’s function within the Korea monetary companies ecosystem, the connection between fintechs and incumbent monetary establishments in Korea, how enabling applied sciences like AI are creating new alternatives for innovation, and what we are able to anticipate from IBK this yr and past.
Based in 1961, Industrial Financial institution of Korea is headquartered within the Jung-gu District of Seoul, South Korea. Kim Sung-tae was appointed Chief Govt Officer in 2023.
Industrial Financial institution of Korea (IBK) received the “Finest Cellular Monetary App” class on the 2024 Finovate Awards. What units your app other than rivals?
Kim Sung-tae: i-ONE Financial institution displays our unwavering dedication to the client. Whereas all banking apps in Korea might seem related, few display consistency and dedication to offering customer-centric companies.
But, i-ONE Financial institution has at all times put the client first since its inception, believing that “all of the solutions lie with the client.” Consequently, the app has persistently ranked first within the home monetary app class on the 2 main app retailer platforms (iOS and Android) — a hit that has culminated in successful the Finest Monetary Cellular App on the 2024 Finovate Awards.
Who does IBK primarily serve?
Kim Sung-tae: IBK serves each particular person and company clients. As of now, roughly 17 million people and a pair of.2 million corporations use IBK’s monetary companies.
What do you suppose is a very powerful banking service for purchasers at the moment, and the way has IBK responded to that want?
Kim Sung-tae: Up to now, retail clients in Korea selected banks primarily based on the proximity to their office or dwelling. Nowadays, nonetheless, we discovered a major shift of their choice standards: clients prioritize cell banking comfort in choosing their main financial institution. To reply to this altering want, we adopted “Simpler, Quicker, and Extra Safe Banking” as our slogan and positioned i-ONE Financial institution because the flagship service of our cell channel.
i-ONE Financial institution delivers a full vary of business banking services, together with deposits, loans, investments, and pensions (Particular person Retirement Pensions) via an open finance platform. It permits clients to view all of their monetary transaction info dispersed at a number of establishments, akin to banks, bank card issuers, and brokerages, on a single web page. As well as, it gives a lot acclaimed private finance administration (PFM) companies that mechanically report spending historical past for straightforward management of consumers’ private funds.
Do you suppose rising applied sciences akin to AI play a major function? Is that this an space of innovation for the financial institution?
Kim Sung-tae: Completely. Upon taking workplace as CEO, I launched “Worth Finance” as my administration philosophy, emphasizing that IBK should transcend revenue era to boost the worth to all stakeholders in consideration of not simply the purchasers, but in addition all the group and even the surroundings.
AI is an progressive expertise with the potential to raise the worth of IBK’s numerous stakeholders. We’re presently operating the IBK GPT Venture which goals to leverage AI to enhance operational productiveness and promote digital transformation in buyer companies by, for example, introducing conversational banking.
How would you describe the monetary companies surroundings in Korea? Is the connection between fintechs and banks extra collaborative or aggressive?
Kim Sung-tae: The monetary companies surroundings in Korea is very dynamic, characterised by each competitors and collaboration between conventional banks and fintech corporations. IBK strives to create synergies between the 2 by specializing in the areas the place they are often complementary to one another, with a objective of fostering a sound ecosystem for larger monetary innovation. For instance, we function IBK Changgong, an incubator program to assist progressive tech startups, and IBK 1st Lab to assist commercialization of the startups’ options.
What main initiatives does IBK have deliberate for 2025?
Kim Sung-tae: In 2025, IBK plans to remodel i-ONE Financial institution into an open platform primarily based on banking. By leveraging the two-side market nature of platforms, we intention to increase our end-user base for banking companies whereas additionally growing collaboration with companion corporations to diversify non-financial content material choices. By means of i-ONE Financial institution, we are going to create a virtuous circle that delivers tangible worth to each clients and companion corporations, and maximize community results, which can finally propel i-ONE Financial institution to be an excellent app.
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