[Financial Insider] Is It Okay If It's Not Shinhan Bank as Long as It's Beneficial to Customers?

Interview with Yoon Geun-hyeok, Head of Shinhan Bank MyData Unit

Reduced Brokerage Fees to 0.5% for Partner Financial Companies
"Instead, Asked to Provide Benefits to Customers Through Interest Rates"
Lower Loan Interest Rates and Higher Limits Compared to Other Comparison Services

Yoon Geun-hyeok, Head of MyData Unit, Digital Strategy Business Group, Shinhan Bank. Photo by Huh Young-han younghan@

"We told our partner financial companies that we would reduce brokerage fees, so please offer benefits such as lowering loan interest rates or increasing loan limits for our customers. Customers who are used to comparing loan products on KakaoPay or Toss need a reason to come to SOL (Shinhan Bank's mobile banking app) to use the loan comparison service."

Yoon Geun-hyeok, head of Shinhan Bank's MyData unit, is currently focused on expanding partnerships with regional banks and savings banks. On the 21st of last month, Shinhan Bank launched the first 'financial product comparison service' among commercial banks. Yoon has been in charge of the practical work for this service. He introduced, "In the case of Hanwha Savings Bank and KB Savings Bank, even for the same product, our service offers loan interest rates up to 1.3 percentage points lower than other platforms," and "BNK Savings Bank and JT Chin-ae Savings Bank have increased loan limits to 150 million KRW and 100 million KRW, respectively."

Since Shinhan Bank is a latecomer in the comparison service market, it was important to showcase competitive products. He explained, "The average brokerage fee rate in this market is originally around 1.7%, but Shinhan Bank lowered it to 0.5%. Instead, we asked our partner financial companies to offer good conditions not only for loans but also for deposit and savings products to customers." By the end of this month, the number of partners will increase to 23, mainly savings banks. In September, regional banks such as Busan Bank and Gyeongnam Bank will also join.

The reason for saying 'It’s okay if it’s not Shinhan Bank as long as it’s advantageous for the customer'

Yoon Geun-hyeok, Head of MyData Unit, Digital Strategy Business Group, Shinhan Bank. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Shinhan Bank’s financial product comparison service started exclusively for Shinhan Bank customers. It is accessible only through the SOL app. This means Shinhan Bank customers can browse other banks’ products on the SOL app and immediately apply for new loans, refinance existing loans, or subscribe to deposit and savings products on the spot. The advertising slogan, "If it’s a loan beneficial to you, it doesn’t have to be Shinhan Bank," clearly reflects this.

Some might wonder, "Are they pushing their loyal customers away? Is this really a leading bank in Korea?" However, Yoon says this customer-first service will benefit Shinhan Bank in the long run. This shift in thinking led Shinhan Bank to be the first among the five major banks to take this path. The other four major banks have yet to dare to try and are only observing the atmosphere.

"If someone urgently needs funds but has reached their borrowing limit at Shinhan Bank, or if they have spare funds but there are no products they want to subscribe to at Shinhan Bank, customers will look for other banks themselves. If they find a product they like there, the entire transaction with that customer could be lost to another bank. But what if they can see not only Shinhan Bank’s products but also other banks’ products at a glance on SOL and sign up immediately? In fact, the number of customers frequently visiting our platform will continue to increase. Chairman Jin Ok-dong of Shinhan Financial Group thought, 'Do Shinhan Bank customers have to manage their assets only with Shinhan Bank products? Not necessarily.'"

Preparing to consolidate scattered loans into one for refinancing

Another feature is using MyData to find the optimal products. Deposit and savings products have preferential interest rate conditions such as salary accounts, automatic transfers, and card payments. Based on these preferential conditions and the customer’s current transactions, the service introduces products that offer the highest interest rates. Using the same method, loan products are shown in order of lowest interest rate or highest loan limit.

Yoon explained, "When customers look for deposit and loan product information on financial companies’ websites, it’s often dozens of lines of text, making it hard to understand. We scrape all product descriptions from every financial company, create a separate database, and immediately apply it to the comparison service."

In the future, various types of refinancing loans will be prepared, including consolidating existing scattered loans into one. He said, "For example, a service that combines a customer’s loans from Bank A (5%, 2 million KRW), Bank B (6%, 3 million KRW), and Bank C (7%, 1 million KRW) into a single loan from Bank D (5%, 6 million KRW) will start soon."

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