Banks Launch Soccer and Baseball Specialized Savings Accounts with Up to 7% Interest on Wins [1mm Financial Talk]

Hana Bank Soccer · Shinhan Bank Baseball
Regional Banks Target Local Fans
Attracting Deposit Customers and App Users
A Strategy to Catch 'Two Rabbits'

Banks are consecutively launching savings products targeting soccer and baseball fans. Hana Bank, which sponsors the South Korea national soccer team and operates Daejeon Hana Citizen, has introduced a soccer-specialized product, while Shinhan Bank, the title sponsor of professional baseball, has released baseball-related products. The plan is to capture the "two rabbits" strategy by not only attracting customers but also guiding them to their own applications (apps).

Hana Bank launched the "K League Championship Savings" product on the 11th. It can only be subscribed to through the Hana Bank app "Hana One Q," and the product name is determined by the K League cheering team selected by the customer at the time of subscription. Subscriptions are available from the launch date until September 30, and the maturity date is January 11 of next year. The monthly deposit limit is between 10,000 KRW and 500,000 KRW.

The basic interest rate is 2.0% per annum, and with maximum preferential interest rates, the rate can go up to 7.0% per annum. Preferential interest includes 1.0% per annum if the customer's cheering team wins the K League 1 championship. Customers can also receive preferential rates based on card usage (1.0% per annum if they have more than 10 uses of the K League Chukdeok card from Hana Card) or the number of customers invited through an invitation code (up to 2.0% per annum for inviting 11 people).

There is also a savings product for professional baseball fans. In March, Shinhan Bank launched the "Shinhan Professional Baseball Savings" product to coincide with the KBO League opening. Like the K League championship savings, it offers many preferential interest benefits. The basic interest rate is 2.5% per annum, and with preferential interest, it offers up to 4.2% per annum. Depending on the cheering team's performance, customers can receive up to 1% per annum (0.5% for missing the postseason, 0.8% for postseason qualification, and 1.0% for winning the Korean Series), and if income of 500,000 KRW or more is deposited into a deposit/withdrawal account for more than six months during the savings subscription period, an additional 0.2% per annum preferential interest is granted.

The characteristic of both banks' savings products is that to receive preferential interest rates, customers must use the soccer and baseball-related platforms within their own banking apps. This strategy aims not only to attract bank customers through savings product subscriptions but also to induce customer inflow into the apps. For the K League savings, customers can receive a 1.0% annual preferential interest rate by participating in soccer content within the app. Along with the product launch, Hana Bank created the participatory soccer-specialized content "Hana One Q Soccer Play" service within the Hana One Q app. It includes soccer trivia quizzes, daily cheering team selection, and monthly match outcome predictions. Based on participation results, customers can earn "One Q Balls," which can be exchanged for Hana Money usable like cash. Shinhan Bank also has a baseball-exclusive platform "SOL Baseball" within its SOL Bank app, offering various benefits such as up to 1,000 My Shinhan Points for each cheering team victory during the regular season.

Regional banks are releasing products for fans of local teams. Jeonbuk Bank launched a savings account for fans of the K League 1 club Jeonbuk Hyundai (JB Strong Jeonbuk Soccer Love Savings) earlier this year. Since it targets a specific team, preferential interest rates (up to 5.0%) can be received when the team’s performance and individual player records are good. Gwangju Bank has released savings products to capture the loyalty of baseball (Kia Tigers) and soccer (Gwangju FC) fans. iM Bank’s Samsung Lions and Daegu FC savings and Busan Bank’s Lotte Giants savings were sold as special limited-time offers during certain periods.