[Financial Insider] Travel Tribe's 'Must-Have' Travel Log... "All Travel Platforms Are Competitors"

Free Currency Exchange and Local ATM Use for 18 Currencies
Popularity Soars with Easy Method... Approaching 3 Million Members
"We Will Make Travelog 'Essential' for Overseas Travel"

Editor's NoteFinance simply means 'to provide funds.' Although it sounds straightforward, complex tasks are involved, requiring the expertise and efforts of many professionals. We take a look at the hidden workers who support and drive large corporations.

Chungyoung Kim, Deputy General Manager, Hana Card Hana Money Business Division

"We didn't expect to be this popular."

Although it was a service prepared with great ambition, even they did not anticipate such a hot response. Kim Chung-young, Deputy General Manager of the Hana Money Business Division, and Kim Ji-yoon, Assistant Manager, who are in charge of operating Hana Card's overseas travel service platform 'Travelog,' recently met with Asia Economy at Hana Card headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, and said this. Travelog is a type of overseas prepaid charging service. Users pre-exchange currency through the app, charge the amount, and freely use the Travelog card overseas. At first glance, it seems similar to existing credit card overseas payments, but Travelog offers benefits such as no foreign exchange fees (for some major currencies), no overseas usage fees, and no overseas ATM withdrawal fees. It completely eliminates the worries and inconveniences related to currency exchange during travel.

The service planning started from this point. With the emergence of various travel-related services, reservations for flights, accommodations, local restaurants, exhibitions, and activities can all be made online. However, currency exchange has always been an exception. Deputy General Manager Kim said, "Although currency exchange requests were possible through bank applications, it was still taken for granted that people would pick up money at airports or branch counters, which was questionable," and added, "At the same time, there was demand within the company for services targeting the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, so we started with the intention of changing this part."

Since it was a service that did not exist before, there were many trials and errors. There were no reference cases to follow, so everything from planning to development was daunting. There was also a great fear about whether it would gain popularity once launched. Since it was not a service prioritizing profitability, internal expectations for results were also a burden.

When it was launched in July last year, the response was quiet. However, once momentum picked up, the number of users began to increase rapidly. It took about a year to reach 1 million subscribers, but it only took three months to add another million. As of the end of last month, the number of members was 2.14 million. It is expected to grow to about 3.5 million by the end of the year. The cumulative amount of currency exchanged has also exceeded 590 billion KRW. Compared to 450,000 members and 80 billion KRW in cumulative currency exchange at the end of last year, this is a dramatic transformation.

Initially, there were concerns about cannibalization with 'GLN,' the currency exchange and overseas payment service within the Hana Financial Group's Hana Money app. However, these worries proved unfounded after the service started. Assistant Manager Kim Ji-yoon explained, "Requests for currency exchange for currencies that were not previously exchanged via mobile banking increased so much that the overall market share of the group in the currency exchange market actually rose," and added, "Not only major currencies like the US dollar and Japanese yen but also all 18 currencies currently offered, including Indonesian rupiah, Philippine peso, Swedish krona, and Czech koruna, have had their foreign exchange fee waivers extended until the end of the year in this context."

Hana Card also has ambitions to grow Travelog beyond a simple service into a community and platform. Users are already finding ways to use it themselves and sharing and expanding these methods in online communities. Deputy General Manager Kim emphasized, "As more data accumulates on Koreans who have directly paid and enjoyed their travels, Travelog might become a source of travel information even more than Google," and added, "It can evolve into a personalized area that provides desired travel information and benefits, establishing itself as a comprehensive travel platform."

Support from the group level is also full-scale. It is seen as an important catalyst to attract the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) into Hana Financial Group. Chairman Ham Young-joo of Hana Financial Group frequently encourages employees involved in the Travelog business. It is said that at the 'Korea Fintech Week 2023' event held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul at the end of last month, hosted by the Financial Services Commission, he personally promoted the service to other financial holding company chairmen. Deputy General Manager Kim said, "The recent speed of user growth is truly encouraging," and pledged, "I want Travelog to become a must-have when traveling overseas in the future."

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