"Convenience Store Partnering with Fintech: CU and Toss Form Online-Offline Business Alliance"

Promise of Joint Cooperation to Create Connection Value Based on Life Platform
Joint Development of Convenience Services Linking CU and Toss Services, Including Toss Money Recharge, to Be Introduced Within the Year
"Building Fintech Financial Infrastructure Based on CU On-Off Platform"

On the 7th, at the Toss headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, (from left) Yeon Jeong-wook, Head of Marketing at BGF Retail, and Choi Jae-ho, Director at Viva Republica, are taking a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] BGF Retail announced on the 11th that it has signed a business agreement with Viva Republica, the operator of the mobile financial platform 'Toss,' to introduce the industry's first Toss Money charging service.

On the 7th, BGF Retail held a 'Joint Cooperation Business Agreement for Creating Connected Value Based on Life Platform' at the Toss headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, attended by related personnel including Yeon Jeong-wook, Head of Marketing at BGF Retail, and Choi Jae-ho, Director at Viva Republica.

Based on this business agreement, BGF Retail and Viva Republica plan to combine their efforts to build infrastructure that enables a more convenient fintech life by applying Toss technology, which has 22 million subscribers, to over 16,000 CU stores nationwide.

As the first collaborative achievement, the two companies will launch the 'Toss Money Charging Service.' This service allows users to charge Toss Money, a prepaid balance based on the Toss application (app), at CU stores nationwide.

Toss Money is a prepaid balance that can be used like a debit card when issuing the Toss Youth Card, a card exclusively for teenagers under 19. Previously, it could only be charged via bank transfer, which was inconvenient for teenage customers who do not have bank accounts or find mobile banking difficult to use.

The CU Toss Money charging service allows users under 18, who receive pocket money in cash, to easily use the service by presenting a barcode generated in the Toss app to store staff and paying the charging amount in cash.

In addition, the two companies plan to continuously review partnership projects that combine each company's online and offline platforms and services to enhance customer convenience.

CU is actively adopting various fintech technologies through partnerships with the finance and IT industries. So far, it has carried out differentiated fintech-based businesses such as ▲POS cash withdrawal service ▲non-passbook remittance service ▲serving as a sales channel for financial products (such as pet insurance) ▲cryptocurrency payment service ▲distribution of convenience store big data through financial data exchanges ▲foreign exchange transactions and overseas remittance services.

Yeon Jeong-wook, Head of Marketing at BGF Retail, said, "Through this business agreement, we have established a more convenient fintech financial infrastructure based on the CU platform capabilities," adding, "We will introduce services that allow customers to naturally experience the convenience of fintech technology in their daily lives through continuous collaboration with Toss."