'Beyond Fintech to Techfin' Hana Financial Group Partners with KAIST and POSTECH

At the business agreement ceremony for the establishment of the 'Techfin Industry-Academic Cooperation Center' held on the 4th at the KAIST main building in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Kim Jeong-tae, Chairman of Hana Financial Group (fifth from the left), Ji Seong-gyu, President of Hana Bank (sixth from the left), Kim Dong-hwan, CEO of Hana Ventures (seventh from the left), Jeong Jung-ho, Director of Hana Financial Management Research Institute (eighth from the left), Shin Sung-chul, President of KAIST (fourth from the left), Lee Kwang-hyung, Vice President for Academic Affairs at KAIST (third from the left), Park Hyun-wook, Vice President for Research at KAIST (second from the left), and Shin Ha-yong, Director of Admissions at KAIST (first from the left) are posing for a commemorative photo. Photo by Hana Financial Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Kim] Hana Financial Group has decided to establish a ‘Techfin (Technology + Finance)’ industry-academia cooperation center with Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and KAIST.

On the 3rd and 4th, Hana Financial announced that it signed consecutive business agreements with POSTECH and KAIST to actively promote a Korean-style digital New Deal in the post-COVID-19 era through comprehensive industry-academia cooperation.

This business agreement aims to establish the first multi-major and multi-capability Techfin industry-academia cooperation center in the domestic financial sector, with ambitions to extend from sharing expertise between industry and academia to joint research and development, startup support, and investment.

Hana Financial, together with the two universities, will promote the construction of a digital ecosystem in various Techfin fields including artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning, big data, chatbots, augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR), Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and biometric authentication.

They agreed to collaborate in all areas, from joint research for developing digital financial products and services, exchange of technical capabilities and practical experience, introduction of innovative programs for nurturing technical talent, to supporting and investing in science and technology startups.

To this end, experts, professors, and researchers from the two universities specializing in computer engineering, computer science, mathematics, industrial engineering, electronic engineering, bio and brain engineering, and AI will participate in interdisciplinary projects without major restrictions.

Additionally, Hana Financial plans to actively utilize Hana Ventures, its corporate venture capital (CVC). They will also pursue business agreements with on-campus startup incubation institutions together with the universities’ technology holding companies (POSTECH Technology Holdings, Future Science and Technology Holdings). By fostering and investing in technology-innovative venture companies, they aim to discover science and technology-based prospective unicorns (startups valued at over 1 trillion KRW), including digital, bio, and materials, parts, and equipment (SoBuJang) sectors, thereby actively participating in the Korean-style New Deal plan for the post-COVID era.

Jung-tae Kim, Chairman of Hana Financial Group, stated, “Amid the deepening uncertainty caused by the COVID crisis, as part of innovation to overcome the waves of change, we will create an experimental ground where the nation’s top science and technology universities and talents can freely challenge and where failure is tolerated. Through this, we will strive to enable substantial innovation both inside and outside the group, so that new value and experiences can be provided to customers in the changed environment.”

The two institutions that signed agreements with Hana Financial also expressed their determination. Mu-hwan Kim, President of POSTECH, said, “This business agreement is meaningful as the first financial sector cooperation case of the ‘Artificial Intelligence-X’ project combined with various fields currently being promoted. Through this, we will strive to contribute to the development of Korea’s financial industry together with Hana Financial in the Techfin ecosystem.” Sung-chul Shin, President of KAIST, said, “I hope that the two institutions, equipped with digital financial innovation capabilities, will achieve great results in the Techfin field by closely cooperating to develop and provide new and differentiated financial services based on core technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution such as AI and big data.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.