'Opportunities await in fintech'

Julian Osborne, head of AAAccell Asia / Courtesy of Julian Osborne

By Park Hyong-ki

Korea offers many opportunities in fintech compared to Singapore and Hong Kong, Julian Osborne, head of AAAccell Asia, a fintech startup in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, said.

"People have asked me why we came to Korea," Osborne told The Korea Times at the Pangyo Startup Center. "I instead ask why not Korea? Here, I find there are lots of opportunities because it is just beginning. In Singapore, the competition among fintech startups is strong."

AAAccell has developed a machine-learning algorithm that can help financial companies calculate and assess risks on their investment portfolios.

It is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

The company set up a Korean subsidiary in 2018 through the Korean government's startup program to offer its services to local financial companies looking to invest in assets abroad such as real estate.

Osborne said Korean financial companies are very open to working with startups, referencing Shinhan Future's Lab and other startup centers run by banks.

Shinhan Financial Group, the biggest holding company by profit, has said it will invest 64 trillion won ($54 billion) in startups through its funds and programs over the next five years.

Its committee, chaired by Shinhan Chairman Cho Yong-byoung, has mobilized 2,000 employees at 14 subsidiaries for this mission. The group established the lab in 2015.

"Practically every bank here has their own startup accelerator program," Osborne said.

"There are a lot of pressures on startups to come up with solutions to problems. There is a push and more potential here than in Switzerland or Europe."

In Switzerland, financial companies mostly just sponsor "hackathons," he said.

Switzerland has been "passive," maintaining a bottom-up, free-market system by letting its players decide on their own what they want to do.

In comparison, Korea has a top-down market, with the government initiating a startup movement and getting involved, even in the development of ecosystems.

"Nonetheless, as this momentum keeps up, it will help in the medium term," Osborne said. "Eventually, when the ecosystem grows and develops, the government, I believe, will let it thrive on its own."

Osborne said Korea seems to lack diversity in the workplace. But he said the government's push to create new industries through startups will attract a variety of entrepreneurs from overseas.

This would, in turn, help boost diversity.

"I am confident that this startup momentum will help attract more talent," Osborne said.

"For example, Koreans studying in the U.S. and coming back with a U.S. entrepreneurial spirit can increase diversity."

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