[Financial IT Forum] Kookmin Bank "AI Financial Assistant Mobile App to Launch in Early Next Year"

Osunyoung, Head of the Financial AI Center at KB Kookmin Bank, is giving a presentation on the topic "AI: Game Changer for Next Gen Banking" at the 13th Asia Economy Financial IT Forum held on the 24th at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] KB Kookmin Bank announced on the 24th that it plans to launch a mobile version of its financial assistant equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) in the first half of next year.

On the morning of the same day, Oh Sun-young, head of the AI Center at KB Kookmin Bank, explained at the ‘Asia Economy Financial IT Forum’ held at Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul, "We tested the kiosk financial assistant and are preparing the mobile version based on that," adding, "We aim to move toward hyper-personalization."

The financial assistant is a service based on virtual humans integrated with AI technology. KB Kookmin Bank has embedded key AI technologies from customer utterance to video synthesis and response. The financial assistant provides general consultation, support for simple banking tasks, and product comparison services.

Oh emphasized the importance of AI, saying, "AI is a core keyword in banking. The AI market size in the financial sector is rapidly growing, and finance ranks high in terms of AI’s potential impact."

He added, "The most important keyword is to approach technologies centered on the 'customer.' KB-STA (financial language engine) focuses on text, and through this, we will communicate accurately and quickly find the value needed by customers."

KB Kookmin Bank began developing the financial-specialized model 'KB-STA' in 2019, the first in the financial sector, introduced it to the world in 2020, and completed version 3.0 development in October this year. KB-STA 3.0, a natural language processing engine, analyzes text from unstructured data through 28 types of sentiment analysis to determine whether the content is negative or positive. Through KB-STA, the bank has secured technology applicable to overall financial services, from customer consultation to natural language data analysis.

KB Kookmin Bank utilizes KB-STA in various services such as search engines, AI financial assistants, and KB Wallet coupon management. It is also promoting a 'stock index' model that detects and collects opinions mentioned by financial institutions and media about interest rates to check the 'interest rate and exchange rate consensus.' Additionally, AI search is applied in the employee portal 'KB-Wisenet' to improve work efficiency.

Moreover, through KB-OCR (Optical Character Recognition), the system locates words, reads them from images via AI recognition, and processes necessary tasks through an AI text analyzer. For example, this technology is used when performing transfer tasks by taking photos in the KB Star Banking app.

KB Kookmin Bank also applies AI to corporate loans. A machine learning (ML)-based model is currently in operation for corporate credit screening.

Regarding the super app, Oh said, "We integrated core services of affiliates centered on the KB Star Banking app," adding, "Users can freely move between affiliate apps such as KB Securities, KB Card, and KB Insurance, and use major affiliate services like stock trading, insurance claims, KB Pay, as well as linked content such as real estate, automobiles, and healthcare."

Furthermore, Oh emphasized 'sustainable AI,' stating, "It is not just important to create AI, but to have data flow smoothly like water inside it and to establish sustainable AI internally, which KB Kookmin Bank is striving for."

He added, "Since the AI mindset is important, KB Kookmin Bank was among the first in the financial sector to recognize the importance of AI ethics, established AI ethical standards, and is implementing a mid-to-long-term roadmap."