Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
KB strengthens ties with O2O startups
KB Financial Group Chief Digital Innovation Officer Han Dong-whan, fifth from left, pose with heads of fintech firms at Korea Fintech Week 2019 in Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, May 23. Courtesy of KB Financial Group
By Lee Kyung-min
By Lee Kyung-min
KB Financial Group plans to launch Liiv, a comprehensive, cloud-based digital service platform, in the latter half of 2019, a group official said Friday.
“We are reviewing specifics concerning legal matters, and the service will be launched after July,” a KB official said.
The development of the online-to-offline (O2O) platform undertaken by six firms ― mostly fintech startups ― seeks to expand CLAYON, the group's current platform with limited data on group subsidiaries.
“We provide technological infrastructure and overall guidance for the firms to create a platform that can enhance customer experience and convenience. Profits will be put back into development to strengthen customer service,” he said.
The envisioned platform will enable customers to make reservations and receive information on a regular or request-based basis on shopping, entertainment and other financial services.
Finding a place that best fits customer preferences will be served further via a safe, easy payment system that helps build trust for continued use, thus establishing a positive and sustainable profit-generating cycle, the group said.
“Now, it is simply about competing against the established market players including portals, but we plan to take a step further to stabilize and optimize a system with earned customer trust,” the official said.
The development is expected to speed up as related regulations have been largely lifted.
“The launch of the service had been delayed due to regulations, under which we had limited access to our prospect business partners, the businesses that could via our platform attract more customers to their shops and services,” he said.
The group is confident the new business model will draw positive responses from local users following the success of a similar service launched in Cambodia in 2016. Over 76,000 people use Liiv KB Cambodia there.
“We have strategies and knowhow, so we will be better able to manage the similar service here.”
Meanwhile, the aggressive drive to boost cooperation with budding fintechs is in line with digital transformation, an initiative spearheaded by KB Kookmin Bank CEO Hur Yin.
Hur declared 2018 a “new beginning” redefining its identity as the leader in digital transformation.
At an event last Nov. 1 that celebrated the 17th anniversary of the bank's establishment, he said 2 trillion won ($1.68 billion) will be invested by 2025 to foster projects related to enhancing digitization and hiring 4,000 digitally savvy people.