 |
| Shinhan Financial Chairman Cho Yong-byoung |
By Park Hyong-ki
Local financial groups are moving aggressively towards increasing their bets on fintech startups, industry sources said Wednesday.
Besides offering a wide range of services through their innovation centers, the groups have internally reorganized and set up new divisions focusing on spurring the entrepreneurial spirit.
Shinhan Financial Group, the biggest holding company by profit, said it will invest 64 trillion won ($54 billion) in startups through its funds and programs over the next five years.
It has even formed a committee chaired by Shinhan Chairman Cho Yong-byoung, who has mobilized 2,000 employees at 14 subsidiaries to "discover the next big thing."
The group established Shinhan Future's Lab in 2015.
Expanded recently, the Lab, which is considered the group's in-house "sandbox" where startups can freely maximize their creativity, plays with their ideas and tests them for commercialization.
 |
| Woori Financial Chairman Sohn Tae-seung |
Woori Financial Group has also launched an innovation committee, getting its employees from its subsidiaries including Woori Bank and Woori Private Equity Asset Management to invest 31 trillion won in startups over the next five years.
Woori Bank will inject capital into a 100 billion won fund by Woori Private Equity in July as a start.
"They are really getting desperate to find something new that can change their business because they are facing limits to growth with their traditional loans and deposit services," an industry source said.
KB Financial Group also said it will invest 60 trillion won over the next five years.
KB Investment, the group's venture capital firm, will lead the way in launching funds to invest in fintech startups, it added.
Hana Financial Group said it and its subsidiaries will invest 30 trillion won over the next three years.
