Industrial Financial institution of Korea (IBK) received “Finest Cell 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 cellular app seems to do all of it,” yet one more choose stated, “It was particularly good to see that it provides prospects quite a lot of choices for log-in and personalization of the person expertise. They’ve clearly targeted on safety and made positive there are numerous completely different features obtainable, even foreign money alternate.”
We caught up with Kim Sung-tae, CEO of Industrial Financial institution of Korea, to be taught extra concerning the establishment’s award-winning cellular banking app and what units it other than opponents within the Korean market. We additionally talk about the financial institution’s function within the Korea monetary providers 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 count on from IBK this 12 months 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 Government Officer in 2023.
Industrial Financial institution of Korea (IBK) received the “Finest Cell Monetary App” class on the 2024 Finovate Awards. What units your app other than opponents?
Kim Sung-tae: i-ONE Financial institution displays our unwavering dedication to the client. Whereas all banking apps in Korea could seem related, few exhibit consistency and dedication to offering customer-centric providers.
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.” In consequence, the app has constantly ranked first within the home monetary app class on the 2 main app retailer platforms (iOS and Android) — a hit that has culminated in profitable the Finest Monetary Cell App on the 2024 Finovate Awards.
Who does IBK primarily serve?
Kim Sung-tae: IBK serves each particular person and company prospects. As of now, roughly 17 million people and a pair of.2 million corporations use IBK’s monetary providers.
What do you suppose is an important banking service for patrons at present, and the way has IBK responded to that want?
Kim Sung-tae: Up to now, retail prospects in Korea selected banks based mostly on the proximity to their office or dwelling. Lately, nonetheless, we discovered a big shift of their choice standards: prospects prioritize cellular banking comfort in deciding on their major 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 cellular channel.
i-ONE Financial institution delivers a full vary of economic banking services, together with deposits, loans, investments, and pensions (Particular person Retirement Pensions) by way of an open finance platform. It permits prospects to view all of their monetary transaction info dispersed at a number of establishments, equivalent to banks, bank card issuers, and brokerages, on a single web page. As well as, it provides a lot acclaimed private finance administration (PFM) providers that robotically report spending historical past for straightforward management of consumers’ private funds.
Do you suppose rising applied sciences equivalent to AI play a big 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 reinforce the worth to all stakeholders in consideration of not simply the shoppers, but additionally the whole neighborhood and even the atmosphere.
AI is an revolutionary know-how with the potential to raise the worth of IBK’s various stakeholders. We’re at present operating the IBK GPT Venture which goals to leverage AI to enhance operational productiveness and promote digital transformation in buyer providers by, as an example, introducing conversational banking.
How would you describe the monetary providers atmosphere in Korea? Is the connection between fintechs and banks extra collaborative or aggressive?
Kim Sung-tae: The monetary providers atmosphere 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 better monetary innovation. For instance, we function IBK Changgong, an incubator program to assist revolutionary 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 based mostly on banking. By leveraging the two-side market nature of platforms, we intention to increase our end-user base for banking providers whereas additionally growing collaboration with accomplice corporations to diversify non-financial content material choices. By means of i-ONE Financial institution, we’ll create a virtuous circle that delivers tangible worth to each prospects and accomplice corporations, and maximize community results, which is able to in the end propel i-ONE Financial institution to be a brilliant app.
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