Naver Financial Captures 'Jungso Sanggongin' to Achieve 130 Billion KRW in Business Loans

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Naver Financial continues its growth by targeting small and medium-sized merchants.

According to Naver Financial on the 30th, the smart store business loans launched last year in collaboration with Mirae Asset Capital and Woori Bank recorded 130 billion KRW.

The smart store business loan is an unsecured credit loan product for online business operators who could not get loans due to lack of financial history or had to accept only high-interest loans. Naver Financial is pioneering a new area by supplementing existing financial data such as return rates, repurchase rates, and securing loyal customers, and applying its own alternative credit evaluation system.

Naver Financial enables small and medium-sized merchants to secure funds, and the online small and medium-sized merchants who started with the loaned funds grow again through Naver Shopping and others, creating a virtuous cycle that also supports the growth of Naver’s e-commerce business.

The Korea Institute of Finance stated in its research report "Current Status, Impact, and Policy Tasks of Big Tech Lending Functions" that "the effect of credit evaluation using non-financial data is significant." As a result of credit evaluation by Naver Financial using non-financial data, some loan applicants with credit ratings of 6 to 7, who generally cannot get loans from banks, were able to receive loans. The Korea Institute of Finance analyzed that non-financial data is playing a complementary role to existing credit evaluations, as there were also rejections among high-credit applicants with ratings from 1 to 3.

It is also noteworthy that the main users are from the MZ generation (born early 1980s to early 2000s). According to Naver Financial, 60% of the business operators who received loans were from the MZ generation. Young entrepreneurs who had difficulty obtaining loans from traditional financial institutions are securing business funds and laying the foundation for online startups through Naver Financial. A Naver Financial official said, "We are putting all our capabilities into data technology, service planning, and more to reduce the burden on small and medium-sized merchants and support their growth," adding, "We will further advance various support measures."

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