Park Jin-hai primarily focuses on K-dramas, entertainment shows and actor interviews. Beyond that, she also pens articles covering the broader arts scene, with a particular emphasis on classical music, dance and various aspects of lifestyle. Since joining The Korea Times in 2013, she has made significant contributions in the realms of hallyu (Korean wave), industry news and international affairs.
'Korea lags behind in fintech industry'
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Lee Suk-geun, a member of the National Economic Advisory Council
By Park Jin-hai
By Park Jin-hai
Lee Suk-geun, a member of the National Economic Advisory Council, a consultative body for President Park Geun-hye, said Korea lags behind in the burgeoning fintech field.
“Although what fintech can do is immense, we are slow in adopting it due to skepticism that fintech is just another form of what we have traditionally been doing, coupled with government regulations,” Lee said.
Lee, an endowment professor at Sogang Univesity, said the banking industry is now moving to “bankless” services through the Internet and smartphones. Over the decade, while the United Kingdom has embraced fintech and has cut costs by reducing bank branches by 40 percent, Korea has seen only a 2 to 3 percent decrease in branch numbers.
Lee graduated summa cum laude from Sogang University, majoring in business administration. Then he completed an MBA course at Chicago University.
“Although now none face-to-face transactions make up more than 80 percent of all banking business, banks are hesitant to reduce staff and offices. Today, banks don’t urge clients to go mobile anymore for the same reason,” he said.
As a result, Korean banks’ competitiveness ranked 83rd among the 93 nations in a 2013 survey by The Banker.
“Since fintech has been introduced last year, no bank has invested in fintech firms. All the while, global companies are trying to prey on the domestic market,” he said.
The Japanese financial group SBI is trying to launch an on-line mortgage service, while a Chinese e-commerce company is rushing to introduce Koreapay, the local version of Alipay.
He said the global financial landscape will change greatly because of the fintech business. “Fintech is led by IT companies and telecommunication companies like Kakao, which has 120 million members as potential customers. In comparison, Kookmin Bank has 22 million customers. The fintech industry has more potential than the traditional bank industry,” he said.
Warning that Korea could be hit below the belt by global fintech companies, Lee said what we need most is to embrace the fintech industry faster and foster those companies.
“In the case of Korea, such IT moguls as Kakao took almost two-and-a-half years to offer its mobile transfer service, Bankwallet Kakao. If this is the case, what can small fintech startups do against multiple regulations?”