Banking groups keen to take lead in metaverse over big tech firms

ATMs belonging to major banks are lined up in this photo taken in Seoul, Feb. 6. Korea Times file

By Yi Whan-woo

Major banking groups are scrambling to get a foothold in the “metaverse,” a fully realized virtual world that combines 3D graphics, high-speed internet and other digital technologies, in what is seen as a bid to take the initiative away from big tech firms in digital banking services.

The banking groups are seen as being agile in their metaverse strategies, considering that the concept remains in its nascent stage while being expected to become a focus of new business.

Market observers attribute this agility to a lesson learned from the competition in mobile banking. The five leading financial services companies ― KB, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup ― were slow and fell behind the big tech firms, which capitalized on their digital prowess as platform operators, managing to muscle into the digital banking industry.

Jung Yoo-shin, the dean of Sogang University's Graduate School of Management of Technology, pointed out in a recent contribution to a newspaper that this painful experience in mobile banking services is the catalyst behind the banking groups' enthusiasm when it comes to the metaverse.

After allowing the big tech firms to take the initiative on digital financial platforms in the real world, the banking groups are now believed to be preoccupied with the goal of becoming the first movers in the era of the metaverse, according to Jung.

He noted that the fact that the metaverse can totally reshape businesses, as the internet itself did in the past, has pushed the banking groups to pay keen attention.

Korea's MZ Generation ― consisting of Millennials and Generation Z ― is emerging rapidly as the largest consumer group, and the fact that they are increasingly adapting themselves to the metaverse is another motivation for the banks to focus on it.

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With regard to the big banks, Shinhan Financial Group has been the most aggressive so far in scaling up its business on the metaverse.

In general, it is the tech companies, such as Facebook abroad and Naver here, that are creating platforms for other businesses to come in and launch their respective activities on the metaverse.

In the case of Shinhan Financial Group, its flagship affiliate, Shinhan Bank, is pushing to create its own platform after hiring Fitfuns, a gaming company that was launched as a part of the banking group's project to nurture prospective startups, and which separated later.

The banking group's artificial intelligence (AI) arm, Shinhan AI, is separately working on its own respective metaverse platform.

KB Financial Group has opened a beta service offering real-time stock charts and face-to-face consultations with its banking staff on a metaverse platform run by U.S. video game developer Roblox.

Both Hana and Woori are using Zepeto, the metaverse platform of Naver, to train their staff.

NH NongHyup Bank will launch a metaverse-based game in March in cooperation with My Credit Chain, a blockchain company.