Integrated Membership App for Financial Companies Becomes Part of Daily Life... 8 out of 10 Koreans Use It

More than 8 out of 10 Koreans Use
Hana Financial's First Service Reaches 16.1 Million Subscribers

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The number of subscribers to integrated membership applications (apps) serviced by major financial groups has surpassed 43 million. Since Hana Financial Group led the way in 2015, the five major groups have successively launched membership services that are now considered to have become ingrained in the daily lives of financial consumers.

According to the financial sector on the 5th, the number of subscribers to the integrated membership services of the five major groups?Shinhan, KB, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup?was counted at 43.22 million as of the end of last month. Considering that Statistics Korea estimates the population of South Korea this year to be about 51.78 million, more than 8 out of 10 people in the country are using financial group memberships.

Integrated membership is a financial platform designed to allow users to access all services such as banking, cards, and insurance within the same group at once. Points and benefits previously provided separately by each affiliate have also been combined into one. It can be compared to CJ ONE points or Lotte L.Point.

Hana Financial, which was the first in the financial sector to launch an integrated membership service, is the most proactive. Starting from the idea of Chairman Kim Jung-tae of Hana Financial, it introduced ‘Hana Members’ in October 2015, which combined the memberships of group companies such as banks, cards, and savings banks into one. As of the end of last month, Hana Members had 16.1 million subscribers, with 100,000 new subscribers added every month.

The advantage of this company’s integrated points, Hana Money, is that it can be used freely like cash. In addition to free simple remittance services, the Global Loyalty Network (GLN) service allows convenient use of Hana Money overseas without currency exchange, and the currency exchange wallet, which lets users exchange foreign currency within the app and use it when needed, is also popular. The number of Hana Money transactions exceeded 111.9 million as of the end of last month, and the cumulative amount in the currency exchange wallet reached 1.1 billion dollars as of the end of last year.

Shinhan Financial Group’s ‘Shinhan Plus,’ launched in August 2018, has also secured 12.3 million cumulative subscribers. Shinhan Plus is an open API-based platform that is embedded in existing group company apps such as Shinhan Bank’s SOL, Shinhan Card’s PayFan, Shinhan Financial Investment’s Shinhan iAlpha, and Shinhan Life Insurance’s Smart Window app, making it highly accessible without a separate app. Currently, Shinhan Plus is also available in Asia, including Thailand and Japan.

Woori Financial Group’s ‘Wibee Members’ has gathered 7.7 million subscribers. Wibee Members is the second financial sector membership service launched after Hana Members. It has the advantage of wide versatility as anyone can join, even if they are not customers of Woori Bank or Woori Card.

NH Nonghyup Financial’s ‘NH Members’ is a Nonghyup membership platform that covers both Nonghyup’s distribution and financial sectors. It was launched at the level of the Nonghyup Central Association in February last year and gathered about 2.2 million subscribers within a year. According to Nonghyup Financial, including existing Chaeum Points members, the number of Nonghyup Financial membership subscribers reaches about 24.4 million.

KB Financial also has 4.9 million subscribers to ‘Liiv Mate.’ Liiv Mate integrates the memberships of affiliates such as KB Kookmin Bank, KB Insurance, and KB Securities based on the existing KB Kookmin Card’s ‘Pointree.’

Financial companies are reportedly preparing innovative services that will surpass internet-only banks and fintech (finance + technology) companies. A financial sector official said, “The competition to present differentiated services as a true lifestyle financial platform, beyond simply accumulating and using points in the app, will continue.”