[1mm Financial Talk] "Useless MyData, I Even Turned Off Push Notifications"

One Year Since Launch, Successful Growth but Only About 3 Out of 10 Subscribers Are Active Users
Users Say "Not Much Help, Just Event Notifications"

[Asia Economy Reporter Sim Nayoung] Office worker Shin Ji-ae (36) turned off the MyData alarm service that had been sending push notifications frequently for six months. "Starbucks coupons, Paris Baguette coupons, CGV coupon event alerts kept coming constantly. Those coupons are not what I need. I was expecting information on where to invest or how to grow my assets, but it was not helpful at all."

Although the number of MyData service subscribers has exploded since its launch in January this year, it has been pushed out of the spotlight as it fails to provide significant benefits to financial consumers. Even in internet investment cafes, searching for MyData mostly yields posts about coupon events.

Office worker Jung Min-jun (46) also said, "Even when I checked the financial recommendation service, it was divided into cards, loans, insurance, and investments I use, but it just gave information like signing up for a card that gives more gas station points than now or earning 10,000 won a month from small investments under 100,000 won." He added, "I looked at it a few times at first, but I don't even remember when I opened it again." The service is similar to existing loan comparison platforms and provides information that can be found on financial company websites, so it lacks competitiveness beyond just saving small change.

MyData has succeeded in expanding its scale for now. It has attracted attention as a service that allows individuals to gather and manage their financial information from various financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies, and securities firms in one place and receive investment and consulting services. Since its launch earlier this year, banks and securities companies have rushed to join. According to Hana Financial Management Research Institute's report "MyData, the Gap Between Expectations and Reality," as of the end of September, 54.8 million people (including duplicates) had subscribed to MyData services. The number of service providers also increased from 33 at the beginning of the year to 52.

Despite this steep increase in subscribers, the actual number of MyData users is far lower. The report explained the results of a survey it conducted: "Only about 3 out of 10 MyData subscribers are currently using the service. The proportion of customers who have actually linked their financial institutions to MyData is still less than half of the subscribers. Regarding the number of linked financial institutions, 7 out of 10 only linked 1 or 2 institutions instead of all their financial institutions."

The banking industry considers expanding the scope of MyData information provision as the most urgent task to solve MyData's problems. They believe that linking non-financial data such as medical, shopping, and telecommunications data along with financial data to offer customized products will regain consumer interest.

The Financial Services Commission plans to ease regulations related to the scope of information provision by June next year, expanding the number of information items to 720. This will enable analysis of real-time card payment information, detailed expected card payment amounts, and detailed online shopping mall order information. A financial industry official said, "Based on the subscriber information collected this year, launching innovative financial services next year is the way for MyData to survive."