Hana Financial Group, Samsung Card, and Others to Suspend 'MyData Service' Starting February (Comprehensive)

Six Companies with Major Shareholder Eligibility Issues
Announce Suspension of MyData Services
Financial Authorities Plan Final Approval Announcement by End of This Month

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Starting next month, as MyData (personal credit information management business) switches to a licensing system, major financial companies whose license reviews have been put on hold will suspend asset inquiry services and others. It is expected that consumers who have been using these services will experience inconvenience for the time being.

According to the financial sector on the 15th, Hana Financial Group will suspend some services of 'My Asset Research Center' within its application Hana One Q, and Fink will suspend services such as integrated inquiry and consumption history. Samsung Card also plans to suspend the 'Asset Inquiry' service within its app My Home starting from the 1st of next month, and Gyeongnam Bank will suspend the asset inquiry service within the comprehensive asset management app 'Alda' from the 5th of the same month.

All of these companies had their MyData preliminary license reviews halted last month due to major shareholder eligibility risk issues. Hana Bank, Hana Financial Investment, Hana Card, and Fink, subsidiaries of Hana Financial Group, had their reviews put on hold because Hana Financial Group was reported to the prosecution in 2016 due to the Choi Soon-sil political scandal.

Samsung Card’s issue was that its major shareholder, Samsung Life Insurance, received a severe institutional warning from the Financial Supervisory Service’s disciplinary committee related to payments for cancer patients’ hospitalization in nursing hospitals. Gyeongnam Bank’s review was put on hold because its major shareholder, BNK Financial Group, was fined in the first trial for stock price manipulation allegations.

Financial Authorities Plan to Improve the Review Suspension System... But It May Take Time

With the suspension of MyData services due to the license review hold, the Financial Services Commission intends to ensure that consumers can receive services at a level similar to the current ones, but inconvenience for consumers using these services is inevitable.

Companies whose reviews were halted due to major shareholder eligibility issues have no choice but to rely on the Financial Services Commission’s relaxation of related regulations. The financial authorities have decided to improve the review suspension system, which allows the suspension of license reviews.

Do Gyu-sang, Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, recently stated, "The current review suspension system in operation during new licensing has been criticized for ambiguous judgment criteria, so we will prepare improvements to enhance rationality." However, it is expected to take considerable time before the improvement plan is announced. Meanwhile, companies that have received the full license and those that have not will inevitably face a gap in advancing their MyData businesses.

So far, with the completion of the second preliminary license review, 28 out of 37 applicant companies have received preliminary licenses. The financial authorities plan to announce the results of the full license review by the end of this month.

An industry insider said, "Competition is fierce as companies aim to secure market dominance in MyData, which is a future growth engine," adding, "There will inevitably be differences in advancing the MyData business between companies that have received full licenses and those that have not."

Meanwhile, MyData, which gathers information scattered across banks, insurance companies, and card companies in one place to provide customized services, will switch to a 'licensing system' starting from the 5th of next month. Companies that provide services without a license will face business suspension within six months or fines of up to 50 million KRW.

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