[The Long Road Ahead for MyData] Jo Young-seo: "Now Is the Time to Accelerate with Hyper-Personalization"

Still in early stages, service is lacking
Complete understanding of personal assets needed, including real estate and car information
"Medical and communication expansion necessary for global MyData"

Youngseo Cho, Chief Digital Platform Officer (CDPO) at KB Financial Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] MyData (personal credit information management service) has officially started this year after many twists and turns. Compared to the English-speaking countries, South Korea is somewhat behind in the emergence of various services such as digital asset management using personal credit information. However, since the scope of digitized information and the number of participating institutions are among the highest in the world, it is expected that ‘hyper-personalized’ services can be launched by utilizing this data in the future.

On the 6th, Youngseo Cho, Chief Digital Platform Officer (CDPO) of KB Financial Group and Executive Director of KB Kookmin Bank’s DT Strategy Headquarters, emphasized this in an interview with Asia Economy. While overseas countries like the US, with its continuously refined personal financial management (PFM) service ‘Mint,’ and the UK, where open banking is bank-centered, have developed sophisticated MyData services that have become personal financial and wealth coaches, South Korea is still in the early stages of MyData, and personalization by service is less developed.

However, he saw sufficient potential. Although information analysis on individuals was not yet sophisticated, now that numerous data have been standardized digitally, analysis has become easier. Especially, the standardized application programming interface (API) for the MyData business is a strength. Previously, information displayed on each company’s website had to be scraped manually, so even changing the location of data fields like address or name could significantly reduce accuracy. Users also had to directly store and manage authentication information such as IDs and passwords, raising security concerns. But with the mandatory standard API, these issues have been resolved.

Cho CDPO explained, "Foreign countries had to collect individuals’ information directly, making it difficult to obtain complete data on a person’s consumption and financial life, but in this aspect, South Korea is ahead. However, the lack of services was simply because efforts to understand and analyze this valuable information on an individual basis had not been made." Additionally, rapid user participation is a strength. He said, "The speed at which customers agree to provide information is much faster with the introduction of MyData than it was with open banking."

Currently, individual financial companies and enterprises are actively working on more detailed classification and analysis of various information. Cho CDPO emphasized, "Showing monthly spending and its increase or decrease at the current level does not greatly help customers. Providing more in-depth analysis can increase customer engagement and enable more sophisticated personalized services." It is not just about whether spending management services exist but about how deeply and precisely they are developed.

Expanding the scope of financial information is also a challenge to be addressed. Currently, MyData is limited to the financial sector. Cho CDPO said, "Information on pensions, trusts, and detailed e-commerce consumption items is still somewhat lacking. Moreover, information on assets such as real estate and automobiles must also be provided to fully understand an individual’s assets and allow various MyData services to flourish."

He particularly emphasized the importance of having information in the real estate sector. Since it accounts for more than 70% of household assets, accurate real estate information is essential for truly hyper-personalized asset management. The fact that much information has already been computerized through electronic registration is an advantage. Cho CDPO said, "As various proptech (real estate IT integration) markets develop, appraisal is becoming easier not only for apartments but also for villas, multi-family houses, and land. If virtual assets are properly added to this, it will be possible to almost perfectly understand an individual’s assets and provide hyper-personalized services."

Furthermore, he sees potential to expand MyData into telecommunications, health, and medical information. At the end of last year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare conducted a demand survey for the health and medical MyData project, with 66 institutions participating. Cho CDPO said, "There is no other country in the world that promotes MyData projects comprehensively under government leadership like South Korea. By integrating and analyzing data such as medical and telecommunications information, we can advance toward a more global MyData service."