INTERVIEW Shinhan seeks to acquire fintech startups

Lender to launch platform in Vietnam, Indonesia in 2019, CDO says

By Park Hyong-ki

Shinhan Bank will be an “active opportunist” when it comes to identifying and acquiring targets with key technologies that can help boost the bank's SOL platform, said Seo Choon-seok, the bank's chief digital officer (CDO).

It can acquire financial technology (fintech) startups that are developing prime technologies and services inside Shinhan Future's Lab here or in Vietnam. The Lab is a center for startups.

Or, the bank can acquire tech companies that are not operating inside the Future's Lab as it expands its alliance through strategic ties with nonfinancial and financial partners both at home and abroad.

“The future acquisitions of fintech startups and adoption of technologies definitely wouldn't be for show,” Seo told The Korea Times at his office in Seoul, Nov. 30.

“Our ultimate goal is to make the SOL platform our customers' main channel for their daily financial transactions and needs.”

Seo, also the deputy president, added it would aggressively pursue acquisitions or equity investments either on its own or with its strategic partners to expand its reach beyond the bank's traditional comfort zone.

The bank has more than 60 partners here. Its overseas partners include Zalo, Vietnam's biggest mobile messenger, and Muabannhadat, a Vietnam-based platform showcasing real estate properties for purchase and rent.

This comes as the regulator is looking to relax relevant financial laws enabling banks to acquire fintech startups to boost their ecosystem.

Shinhan's acquisition and alliance strategy is also part of its efforts to increase the number of SOL's users to 10 million by early 2019, currently from 8 million, Seo noted.

To achieve this, it will need key technologies to upgrade and provide convenient services such as chatbots for real-time instant messaging, a robo-adviser for asset management and SOL Pay for mobile payments at Daiso, a store chain. These will be introduced via the SOL platform in December.

“We seek to strengthen our chatbot running on artificial intelligence. As for SOL Pay with Daiso, the bank will break into a niche market of mobile payments,” the CDO said.

With the partnerships and technologies through acquisitions and developments, Seo said it wants to build SOL to provide services tailored to individual needs in the long term.

At the same time, it seeks to launch local versions of the platform in Vietnam and Indonesia, slightly different from the one here in Korea.

Seo said those overseas SOL platforms can be connected with its partners' platforms in those countries.

“We will carry out the SOL overseas plan in 2019 as the bank further develops the platform here,” he said.

He added the long-term strategy for SOL's tailored services must include boosting the bank's capacity in big data as it seeks to provide, for instance, suggestions and recommendations after analyzing the digital footprints of its customers not only using the platform but also its partners' services.

SOL is looking to do those things like Amazon, while building its alliance like Google, according to Seo.

“As our Shinhan Financial Chairman Cho Yong-byoung said, digital transformation begins in our minds first, not by rushing to adopt and acquire fancy technologies,” Seo said.

Shinhan Bank's digital group has about 130 employees, 35 of which are focusing on big data analysis. Seo has been working for Shinhan Bank for more than 30 years.