"Inviting Businesses and Small Merchants"... Banks Expand Digital Innovation Corporate Finance

KB, Woori and Other Corporate-Only Platforms Launching Non-Face-to-Face Services One After Another

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] As the competition for digital innovation in the banking sector expands to corporate finance, a fierce race is underway to launch corporate finance platforms and non-face-to-face services that cover both corporate clients and individual business owners.

According to the banking sector on the 18th, Shinhan Bank plans to introduce a digital-based sales support system called STAB within this month, allowing corporate customers to receive financial services through bank employees visiting their companies without having to visit a branch. It includes essential sales functions such as customer status inquiry, corporate information search, and proposal creation, and supports loan, deposit, and reporting tasks for both corporate and individual business customers.

Additionally, the day before, Shinhan Bank launched the 'Shinhan Online Direct Export Guarantee Loan,' the first in the banking sector to apply a new non-face-to-face loan process for corporations. Export companies can now apply for guarantees, undergo screening, and sign contracts entirely through a mobile app without visiting a bank branch.

Woori Bank launched 'Woori WON Banking Corporate,' a customized financial service for corporate customers, on the 15th. It features non-face-to-face loan services and optimized functions for corporate clients such as bulk transfer of up to 500 transactions and easy balance top-up. Individual business owners can also open accounts and register for internet and mobile banking all at once without visiting a branch.

KB Kookmin Bank fully revamped and launched the comprehensive non-financial service platform KB Bridge for corporate customers at the end of last month. Separately, it established the KB Smart Corporate Loan service, which supports all corporate customers to process corporate loan tasks through non-face-to-face channels. All processes for corporate loan customers?including loan application, limit and interest rate inquiry, document submission, contract signing, and progress tracking?can now be conducted without visiting a bank branch.

Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) released 'i-Won Small Business,' a lifestyle financial platform exclusively for small business owners that allows them to handle both personal and corporate banking services through a single mobile app last month. This month, it launched a non-face-to-face overdraft loan product that offers preferential treatment to employees of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Non-face-to-face banking services, previously focused on individual customers, expand to corporate clients

Digital innovation in the banking sector has so far been centered on individual customers. Except for IBK, banking operations have focused on individual clients, and corporate finance has traditionally preferred face-to-face transactions due to the complexity of required documents and the need to avoid errors or risks during credit evaluation and document review. According to IBK Economic Research Institute's '2020 SME Financial Survey,' at the end of last year, SMEs cited high interest rates (30.3%) and complicated loan document procedures (26.8%) as inconveniences when applying for bank loans.

However, amid tightening household loans and the spread of COVID-19 highlighting support for small business owners, banks are now faced with the need to expand digital innovation to corporate clients to enhance customer convenience. With financial authorities expected to continue pressuring to curb the surge in household loans, banks face the reality that increasing corporate loans is necessary to secure profitability.

A bank official said, "Banks have long provided non-face-to-face services to individual customers, and recently, in terms of expanding digitalization, they are launching platforms and services targeting corporate clients. Competition among banks to create differentiated digital platforms for corporate customers will intensify."

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