Resolving the 'Tilted Playing Field'... "Financial Holding Companies Also Need to Promote Information Sharing Among Affiliates"

Bank Yeon Hosts Seminar on Financial Conglomerates in the Digital Era

The Bankers Association building located in Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-ho Kim] A claim has been made that information sharing through financial holding company affiliates should be activated to resolve the controversy over the 'tilted playing field' existing between financial indices and big tech (large information technology companies). It is pointed out that a regulatory environment at the same level as overseas advanced countries should be established to enhance the global competitiveness of domestic financial companies.

On the 2nd, Park Sung-hyun, Vice President of Shinhan Financial Group, stated this during a keynote presentation titled "The Need to Expand Information Sharing Among Financial Holding Company Affiliates" at the "Financial Conglomerate Seminar in the Digital Age" held at the Bankers Hall in Myeong-dong, Seoul.

Vice President Park said, "Through active information sharing, data can be accumulated to build a 'data platform,' which can contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of the domestic financial industry." He added, "The data platform will enable the supply of customized products for customers, support new financial industries related to data, and play a pioneering role in ESG by enhancing social efficiency."

To emphasize the importance of data information sharing, he cited the example of Netflix. He explained, "The success factor of Netflix lies in the virtuous cycle of accumulating → analyzing and utilizing customer data, which allowed them to understand what users like better than anyone else," and added, "If financial holding companies also combine and analyze information among affiliates, they can understand customer lifestyles like Netflix."

He particularly stressed that to ensure fair competition with big tech companies freely conducting financial and non-financial businesses and utilizing various data, a policy environment that allows data sharing within financial holding companies must be established. Vice President Park pointed out, "Kakao and financial holding companies are the same in terms of governance structure, but there is a big difference in the scope of businesses they can operate and the data they can collect," and said, "Equity should be enhanced according to the principle of same business, same regulation."

Currently, domestic financial holding companies face restrictions in actively utilizing customer data such as data platforms, requiring customer consent and dual business reporting when sharing information. In contrast, major advanced countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan allow information sharing for marketing purposes among affiliates even without customer consent.

Vice President Park said, "It is necessary to expand the scope of affiliate information sharing from management to marketing purposes," and added, "To address issues, the right to refuse afterward can be granted to protect the self-determination rights of personal information."

Meanwhile, financial authorities are reviewing measures to activate information sharing among financial holding company affiliates. On October 10, Ko Seung-beom, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said, "We will strengthen the foundation to activate information sharing between financial and non-financial sectors so that data, a core asset in the digitalized financial environment, can be used more freely." Jeong Eun-bo, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, also mentioned last month, "We will review ways to facilitate smooth information sharing within financial holding groups to enhance synergy."

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