KEB Hana teams up with Samsung Electronics

By Nam Hyun-woo

KEB Hana Bank said Sunday that it has signed an agreement with Samsung Electronics to launch joint research and development projects for fintech services and cooperate to enter foreign markets with them.

With the agreement, KEB Hana Bank will have its accounts supported by Samsung Pay, Samsung Electronics’ mobile payment platform. The bank also seeks to apply a new certification service to its 1Q Bank mobile banking platform.

“By signing the strategic partnership on fintech with Samsung Electronics, KEB Hana Bank will launch innovative financial services with new technologies in the fields of mobile certification, payment and settlement and reward points systems so that it can meet the demands of customers,” said KEB Hana Bank CEO Ham Young-joo.

The bank hopes the agreement will serve as a launch pad for consolidating Hana Members, a membership reward point program in which customers can earn Hana Money by making transactions at KEB Hana affiliates. Hana Money can be withdrawn as cash from ATMs or be credited to users’ own accounts. The bank said more than 5 million had subscribed to the membership program eight months after its release in October last year.

With the agreement, Hana Members and Samsung Electronics’ reward point systems will be affiliated.

“The agreement will significantly improve Hana Financial Group’s capability to develop and release fintech products and assist Hana Members, and will reintroduce itself as an innovative financial platform,” said Ham. “The bank will spare no effort or investment in merging the IT and finance sector.”

“Samsung Electronics has successfully launched Samsung Knox and Samsung Pay services,” said Samsung Electronics Vice President Lee In-jong. “Along with the experience, the agreement will come as an opportunity for the company to allow customers to use new financial services more conveniently and safely.” Samsung Knox is the company’s mobile security platform.