[Weekly Savings Banks] Abundant High-Interest Savings Events and More

Oh Hwa-kyung, CEO of Hana Savings Bank

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] Hana Savings Bank is renewing and selling the ‘Card & Money Regular Savings’ product, which offers an interest rate of up to 5.0% per annum.

This product provides additional interest rate benefits when signing up for a regular savings account and issuing a Hana Card, allowing customers to earn up to 5.0% interest.

The base interest rate is 2.3%, and new customers or those who have been inactive for more than six months will receive a preferential interest rate of 2.5 percentage points if they issue a Hana Card and spend more than 100,000 KRW within three months after issuance.

Additionally, a preferential interest rate of 0.1 percentage points is provided when signing up via internet, smartphone banking, or mobile branch, and another 0.1 percentage points is added when the maturity interest is accumulated as Hana Money.

The maximum monthly deposit limit is 300,000 KRW, and the subscription period is 12 months.

An event is also being held. Until the end of October, the first 3,000 Hana Members who subscribe to this product will receive a Baskin-Robbins ice cream coupon.

Jung Gil-ho, CEO of OK Savings Bank

OK Savings Bank, Special Deposit with 1.7% Annual Interest Rate

OK Savings Bank is launching a special deposit product called ‘OK Champion Lee Tae-hee Regular Deposit’ to celebrate the victory of professional golfer Lee Tae-hee.

Lee Tae-hee, affiliated with OK Savings Bank, achieved back-to-back wins at this year’s Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Tour ‘GS Caltex Maekyung Open,’ marking his fourth win on the Korean Tour. He secured his first victory at the 2015 ‘NEPS Heritage’ and won the 2018 ‘Genesis Championship.’

The interest rate for this special deposit product is 1.7% per annum (pre-tax, variable every year), with a contract period of three years. However, even if the deposit is withdrawn early after one year, the 1.7% interest rate is guaranteed. This feature provides the same effect as subscribing to a one-year fixed deposit.

The subscription is open to individuals, with only one account allowed per person. The deposit amount ranges from a minimum of 100,000 KRW to a maximum of 10 billion KRW. Subscriptions are accepted from the 1st to the 30th of next month, but the offer will end early once the total limit of 50 billion KRW is reached. Subscriptions can be made at branches, via internet, or mobile banking.

Seunggun Lee, CEO of Toss

‘Unicorn’ Toss Valued at 3.1 Trillion KRW

Viva Republica (hereafter Toss), which operates the mobile financial service Toss, has raised 200 billion KRW in a single round of investment, the largest since the company’s establishment. Through this investment, Toss was valued at 3.1 trillion KRW.

Toss announced on the 28th that it secured 173 million USD (approximately 206 billion KRW) in investments from major existing investors. The cumulative investment amount has reached about 630 billion KRW.

Existing investors participating in this round include Aspex Management, Sequoia China, Kleiner Perkins, Altos Ventures, Goodwater Capital, and Greyhound Capital. The company explained that this large-scale investment was significant as it was secured amid a global investment market contraction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through this investment, Toss was recognized with a corporate valuation of 3.1 trillion KRW. About two years after becoming the first domestic fintech (financial technology) company to achieve unicorn status (a startup valued at over 1 trillion KRW) in December 2018, its valuation has more than doubled. At that time, Toss raised 90 billion KRW from existing investors and was valued at 1.3 trillion KRW.

Furthermore, in August last year, Toss raised an additional 77 billion KRW, increasing its valuation to 2.7 trillion KRW. This means the company’s valuation grew by approximately 400 billion KRW within a year.

Toss stated that this investment brings them one step closer to their goal of ‘fulfilling all financial needs.’ Currently, Toss has four subsidiaries: ‘Toss Payments,’ which operates a payment gateway (PG) business; ‘Toss Insurance,’ an insurance agency (GA); a securities company scheduled to launch within this year; and an internet-only bank planned for launch next year. The company employs about 600 staff members and plans to hire an additional 500 by the end of the year.

Lee Seung-gun, CEO of Toss, said, “The Toss team is creating a ‘super financial application’ that fundamentally innovates every aspect of finance. We will continue to strive until all everyday financial activities are transformed through Toss.”