[Open Banking Golden Age] Companies Lead in 'Business', Citizens in 'Design', Shinhan Tops in 'Convenience'

Asia Economy and Web Development Institute Announce Korea's First Open Banking App Ranking
KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana Banks Follow IBK in Top Positions
Evaluation in 5 Categories... Which Banks Rank Highest in Each?

Open Banking Overall Ranking

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, which received the highest score (92.1) and ranked first overall in the open banking application (app) evaluation, the first attempt of its kind in Korea conducted by Asia Economy and the Web Development Research Institute, ranked in the top group in all five evaluation categories. Following were KB Kookmin Bank (88.7), Shinhan Bank (84.6), Hana Bank (84.2), Jeju Bank (83.9), and BNK Busan Bank (82.7). Woori Bank (82.3) and NH Nonghyup Bank (74.0) ranked 7th and 9th respectively among the 10 surveyed banks, falling behind regional banks in the rankings.

The five evaluation categories were customer attraction (how much favorability the bank gains from customers), business (whether core functions are well implemented), content (whether the app has diverse and differentiated content), design (whether the app design is highly complete), and technicality (the app’s technology). Each of the five areas was further divided into 4 to 6 subcategories for scoring, which were then converted into a 100-point scale.

At the Open Banking Service Launch Ceremony held on the 18th at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, and other attendees are taking a commemorative photo. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

Looking at each category, in terms of customer attraction, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea and KB Kookmin Bank received high scores. Both banks scored 37 out of 43 points in the customer attraction category. Notably, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea received a perfect score in differentiation and originality, while KB Kookmin Bank received a perfect score in usefulness.

In the business category, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea also took first place. The bank scored 52 out of 55 points in this category. It received perfect scores in four areas: convenience of account inquiry functions, diversity of wealth management (WM) services, convenience of My Menu and payment functions, and convenience of additional functions.

Next, Shinhan Bank, which received perfect scores in notification services and convenience of additional functions, ranked second in this category with 48 points, followed by Woori Bank in third place with 47.5 points. Woori Bank received perfect scores in convenience of account inquiry and additional functions. KB Kookmin Bank (47.0) and Jeju Bank (47.0) also received favorable evaluations.

In the content category, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea and KB Kookmin Bank tied for first place. Both banks scored 41 out of 44 points. They received perfect scores particularly in security and personal protection policies and diversity of additional content. Next were Busan Bank and Hana Bank, each scoring 38 points. These banks received perfect scores in security and personal protection policies.

All banks scored an average of 7.6 out of 8 points in the security and personal protection policy item within the content category, indicating a high level of preparedness for security. This is judged to be the result of banks paying careful attention to personal information protection, which is considered important in traditional financial services, also in open banking.

However, except for KB Kookmin Bank (10.0), other banks scored below 9 out of 11 points in guidance for elderly users and those unfamiliar with smartphone use.

In the design category, KB Kookmin Bank took first place. The bank received a perfect score of 47 points in all areas including design consistency, efficiency and originality, intuitive design, and reasonable UI. Busan Bank ranked second with 45.0 points, receiving perfect scores in four of five items except for efficiency and originality of design, where it scored 8 out of 10. IBK Industrial Bank of Korea ranked third with 44.0 points; it scored 6 out of 9 in design consistency but received perfect scores in other items. Other banks averaged 40.6 points, showing a high level of readiness for open banking services in the design area.

The last category was technicality, where all banks showed excellent open banking app performance. However, app accessibility support was relatively insufficient, though no issues are expected during service use.

In the technicality category, Busan Bank and Hana Bank each scored 46 out of 51 points. Busan Bank received perfect scores in mobile authentication and app performance, while Hana Bank received a perfect score in app performance. IBK Industrial Bank of Korea and Shinhan Bank tied for third place with 45.5 points each. Other banks also scored at least 40 points in technicality, indicating that banks’ responses to open banking in this area are quite excellent.