Hong Min-taek "Toss Bank to launch services via Toss app as early as September, no later than October"

Hong Min-taek, CEO of Toss Bank, Press Conference
Service Planned Within Toss App Platform
"No Plans for Partnership with Cryptocurrency Exchanges"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Hong Min-taek, CEO of Toss Bank, stated regarding the service launch, "If all goes well, we expect to showcase the bank service through the Toss app as early as this September, and at the latest by early October." Regarding the recent issue of partnerships with cryptocurrency exchanges, he said, "We have not yet reviewed such partnerships."

CEO Hong made these remarks during an online briefing held immediately after the Financial Services Commission approved the 'Toss Bank banking license' agenda at its regular meeting on the 9th.

First, CEO Hong announced that Toss Bank will be launched within the Toss app platform. He explained three main reasons for not releasing a separate app. First, he said, "Among Toss’s customers, those who want to receive financial services will be provided with high accessibility so they can receive these services without any extra effort," adding, "The 20 million Toss app users are potential customers of Toss Bank."

He further emphasized that using the Toss app offers greater advantages in terms of ▲reducing marketing costs and ▲maintaining a stable security system. CEO Hong said, "By sharing such a system, we can attract many customers in a short period during the bank’s initial launch and provide customers with a robust security framework, which led us to make this decision."

CEO Hong also expressed strong confidence in Toss Bank’s credit scoring model (CSS). Alternative information refers to data not measured by existing credit rating agencies and includes millions of service data accumulated by Toss with customer consent. Based on this, he set a goal to provide more than 30% of the total credit loan volume to financially marginalized groups right from the launch.

He emphasized, "Until now, there has been a structural contradiction where credit evaluations were only conducted for customers with credit cards or existing loan histories," adding, "We want to give customers who want loans but have been unable to get them due to this structural contradiction the experience of a first-tier financial institution."

When asked whether the recently announced loan ratio target for medium- and low-interest credit borrowers is higher compared to other internet-only banks, he explained, "It is a number we can sufficiently achieve." CEO Hong said, "We have conducted thorough reviews through accumulated data," and added, "We are not simply taking on risky customers just to meet the numbers."

Regarding plans for listing, he said, "We have not yet made any plans for an IPO," but added, "An initial public offering (IPO), which can raise large-scale funds during the capital increase process, remains an open option."

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