Naver Pay Usage to Reach 100 Trillion Won by 2025... Expansion of Overseas Payments (Comprehensive)

Sangjin Park, CEO of Naver Financial, Press Conference on the 14th

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Park Sang-jin, CEO of Naver Financial, announced on the 14th that he aims to achieve an annual transaction volume of 100 trillion KRW for Naver Pay, a simple payment service, by 2025. Naver Financial plans to launch the ‘Smart Place Business Loan’ within this month and will also start the first-ever personal business loan comparison service in the fintech industry in the second half of the year.

Naver Pay Accelerates Growth Targeting 100 Trillion KRW... Integration with LINE Pay

Park, who took office in March, emphasized at the ‘Naver Financial Media Day 2022’ held that morning, "We will continue to expand both payment and financial businesses externally to prove our value as the fintech platform most sought after by users and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)."

Park expressed his ambition to firmly establish Naver Financial as a simple payment service provider and to grow the monthly active users (MAU) of its MyData service to 10 million. The company plans to increase the number of SMEs using innovative financial services based on data intelligence by five times compared to now. Data intelligence is a technology that integrates non-financial data such as Naver Pay order and payment data and data generated from Smart Store with artificial intelligence (AI).

First, there is a plan to accelerate the growth of Naver Pay. The annual transaction volume of Naver Pay was 38 trillion KRW as of last year. In May, the monthly transaction volume surpassed 4 trillion KRW. Park explained, "Naver Pay currently has 30.78 million users, which is a 22% increase from the early days, reaching 84% of the domestic working-age population."

Naver Pay plans to increase lifestyle industry merchants such as medical, cultural, and mobility sectors and expand overseas local payment integration starting with Taiwan’s LINE Pay. Regarding overseas expansion, Park said, "It is not easy for financial businesses to outperform local financial companies abroad," but added, "There will definitely be opportunities if Naver’s data analysis capabilities and technology combine with partners."

Launch of ‘Loan Comparison’ Service

Naver Financial will launch the ‘Smart Place Business Loan’ within this month. Smart Place is a platform where offline SMEs can register store information on Naver Search, Maps, etc., and freely use business tools such as Naver Reservation and Order. Naver Financial plans to introduce loan products exclusively for the 2.5 million SMEs using this platform in collaboration with Woori Bank and Jeonbuk Bank. Additionally, it will launch an ‘Insurance Integrated Inquiry’ service this month to analyze the coverage of users’ insurance and provide customized insurance information and tips content.

In the second half of this year, Naver Financial will start the first personal business loan comparison service in the fintech industry. Loan products from the entire financial sector will be listed, and the company will work with financial institutions to develop products tailored to business characteristics.

Naver Financial will also continuously expand SME mutual growth. It will provide free support for one year for fast settlement, Naver Pay order management fee support, and return assurance care. Park said, "We will also seek investment opportunities in innovative fintech startups and overseas fintech partnerships," adding, "We will fully mobilize our technological capabilities to strengthen user data management and protection."

"Will Obtain Licenses If Necessary"

Park also addressed criticisms that Naver Financial has taken a passive approach to financial business compared to Kakao Bank, Kakao Pay, and Toss.

He said, "As a fintech operator, we have obtained all the licenses required for electronic finance," and explained, "(Naver Financial) does not aim to simply bring existing finance online but aims to create innovative finance that delivers differentiated financial value."

Park added, "Since financial business has a long history, many financial specialized companies have experience and networks, so we want to collaborate to create good products," and said, "If innovative finance can create high value, we are willing to obtain licenses."

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