NH Nonghyup Bank Participates in Korea SoHo Bank Consortium

Korea Credit Data (KCD), leading the Korea SoHo Bank consortium, announced on the 10th that NH Nonghyup Bank has submitted a letter of intent to invest in the Korea SoHo Bank consortium. With NH Nonghyup Bank's participation, the Korea SoHo Bank consortium is expected to provide services supporting low-income finance and underserved local small business owners.

NH Nonghyup Bank's participation in the Korea SoHo Bank consortium marks the second declaration of involvement by a major domestic bank following Woori Bank in April last year. Several financial companies have already decided to join the Korea SoHo Bank consortium. Following Woori Bank and Woori Card in May and July last year, Eugene Investment & Securities decided to participate in February this year, and ITCEN has officially joined as a non-financial company.

Korea Credit Data (KCD), leading the consortium, provides the management service ‘Cash Note’ to 1.7 million small business owners nationwide. In addition, services are supplied to 2.3 million business sites nationwide through Korea Payment Networks, a specialist in online and offline payments, I’m U, a POS (Point of Sale) and kiosk specialist company, and dedicated personal business credit evaluators. Cash Note started as a bookkeeping and sales management app and now also offers management, financial services, product purchasing, and community features.

A KCD representative stated, “With NH Nonghyup Bank’s participation, the Korea SoHo Bank consortium has resolved issues regarding the adequacy of capital and funding plans as well as the provision of finance to local small and medium enterprises, enabling the delivery of essential financial services to many more small business owners in Korea who have been financially underserved in local and regional areas. With NH Nonghyup Bank joining, the Korea SoHo Bank consortium and Korea Credit Data have established cooperative relationships with various leading domestic financial companies for the benefit of small business owners. We will introduce the first bank that is truly essential for small business owners only.”