Viva Republica and 7 Others Receive Preliminary MyData Licenses... KakaoPay Under Review

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Gang-wook] Seven companies, including Viva Republica, which operates the mobile financial platform Toss, SC First Bank, and SK Planet, have received preliminary approval for the MyData business (personal credit information management business). Kakao Pay, which had attracted attention, is still under review due to delays in submitting supporting documents related to its major shareholder, Ant Group.

On the afternoon of the 13th, the Financial Services Commission held a regular meeting and announced that after reviewing the companies that applied for preliminary approval for the MyData business, seven companies?Viva Republica, Min&Ji, Kukon, Fintech, Habit Factory, SC First Bank, and SK Planet?have been additionally granted preliminary approval.

As a result, among the 37 companies that have applied for preliminary approval for MyData so far, 28 companies have obtained preliminary approval, including the 21 companies that previously received preliminary approval and the 7 companies this time.

Among the remaining nine companies, six companies?Naver Financial, Hana Financial Investment, Hana Bank, Hana Card, Samsung Card, Gyeongnam Bank, and Fink?are currently under review suspension.

The Financial Services Commission stated, "The review is on hold due to ongoing criminal lawsuits and sanction procedures against the major shareholders of the applicants. Once the reasons for the suspension are resolved, the approval review will resume immediately."

Among the three companies, two?BankQ and IGnet?did not receive preliminary approval this time as well due to insufficient approval requirements based on the external evaluation committee's review results.

The last remaining company, Kakao Pay, is still under review due to delays in submitting some of the required supporting documents, according to the Financial Services Commission. Kakao Pay is currently verifying facts regarding criminal penalties and sanctions against its foreign major shareholder, Ant Group.

The Financial Services Commission plans to conduct the final approval review for the seven companies, including Viva Republica, which received preliminary approval, by the end of this month. On the 8th, along with 20 companies that applied for final approval, the results of the final approval review for the seven companies including Viva Republica will be submitted to the Financial Services Commission's regular meeting at the end of this month.

Additionally, for the nine companies among the 37 applicants that did not receive preliminary approval, the commission has set a policy to minimize consumer inconvenience and damage even if they do not receive final approval by the 4th of next month.

A Financial Services Commission official explained, "We will ensure that consumers do not experience inconvenience through prior notifications such as text messages and app alerts, and through business partnerships with other MyData operators and partial service changes, consumers will be able to receive services similar in level to those currently provided."

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