Woori diversifying portfolio into securities, insurance

Woori Bank headquarters in downtown Seoul / Korea Times file

By Lee Kyung-min

Woori Bank signed a business agreement with Hanwha Group's insurance, securities and asset management arms to promote digital business, it said Sunday.

They will jointly promote new digital businesses and cooperate in fine-tuning strategies for joint marketing and securities partnership services.

Woori Bank, for example, is hoping to expand its global cooperation with Hanwha subsidiaries and affiliates in Vietnam and introduce joint marketing campaigns for their new insurance products and services. Pension products will be also promoted in partnership with Hanwha's asset management subsidiary.

Officials of Woori and Hanwha will set up a joint council composed of working-level officials for close and efficient cooperation.

The first joint project will be providing an online securities trading service launched by Hanwha on a platform operated by Woori. With the app, Woori WON Banking, the two sides expect timely cooperation amid sustained popularity of the stock market since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We plan to continue our partnerships among financial companies for the competitive edge needed in the rapidly evolving digital environment, a critical task since the government innovation initiative MyData service took effect early this month,” a Woori official said. “Online trading is increasingly becoming the new norm in the pandemic era. Intensifying competition in the insurance industry will be navigated by the newly established organic connections and collaborations with a variety of strong financial companies.”

The local commercial bank, in commemoration of completing its full privatization recently, introduced a new financial product with an annual deposit rate of up to 2.03 percent.

The “Thank you, our customers” product, an installment account, offers a basic interest rate of between 1.53 percent and 1.63 percent, with an additional 0.4 percentage points depending on the credit score among other borrowing criteria.

The interest rate range will be applied even when an account holder cancels before maturity. A savings bank affiliate of Woori has launched high-interest special installment savings account with an annual rate of up to 5.0 percent.

Those who open an account will be given 2.1 percent interest and an additional 2.9 percent increase in rate upon consent to using their information for marketing on the Woori WON Savings Bank app.

The savings bank account will be limited to one per person and the fixed monthly installments are from 10,000 won to 200,000.