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 cellular app seems to do all of it,” yet one more choose mentioned, “It was particularly good to see that it provides clients a wide range of choices for log-in and personalization of the consumer expertise. They’ve clearly targeted on safety and made positive there are numerous completely different features out there, even foreign money 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 cellular banking app and what units it aside from rivals within the Korean market. We additionally talk about 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 will 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 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 aside from rivals?
Kim Sung-tae: i-ONE Financial institution displays our unwavering dedication to the client. Whereas all banking apps in Korea could seem comparable, 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.” In consequence, the app has constantly ranked first within the home monetary app class on the 2 main app retailer platforms (iOS and Android) — successful that has culminated in profitable 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 firms use IBK’s monetary companies.
What do you suppose is crucial banking service for purchasers at the moment, and the way has IBK responded to that want?
Kim Sung-tae: Previously, retail clients in Korea selected banks based mostly on the proximity to their office or residence. Today, nonetheless, we discovered a big shift of their choice standards: clients prioritize cellular banking comfort in choosing their main financial institution. To answer this altering want, we adopted “Simpler, Sooner, 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 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, similar to banks, bank card issuers, and brokerages, on a single web page. As well as, it provides a lot acclaimed private finance administration (PFM) companies that robotically document spending historical past for simple management of consumers’ private funds.
Do you suppose rising applied sciences similar 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 in addition the whole neighborhood and even the setting.
AI is an revolutionary know-how with the potential to raise the worth of IBK’s various stakeholders. We’re at the moment operating the IBK GPT Undertaking which goals to leverage AI to enhance operational productiveness and promote digital transformation in buyer companies by, as an example, introducing conversational banking.
How would you describe the monetary companies setting in Korea? Is the connection between fintechs and banks extra collaborative or aggressive?
Kim Sung-tae: The monetary companies setting in Korea is very dynamic, characterised by each competitors and collaboration between conventional banks and fintech firms. 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 higher 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 rework i-ONE Financial institution into an open platform based mostly on banking. By leveraging the two-side market nature of platforms, we intention to develop our end-user base for banking companies whereas additionally growing collaboration with associate firms to diversify non-financial content material choices. By way of i-ONE Financial institution, we are going to create a virtuous circle that delivers tangible worth to each clients and associate firms, and maximize community results, which is able to in the end propel i-ONE Financial institution to be an excellent app.
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