Financial Services of Bank, Insurance, and Securities Affiliates to Be Integrated into SOL Bank
All Group Financial Transactions with One App... Asset Portfolio Management
New Converged Products to Be Launched... Investment Advisory Enhanced with AI
App Inevitably Becomes Heavier... Focus on Improving Speed
Ensuring Convenience for Bank-Only Users... Pursuing a Simple and Intuitive App Experience
Shinhan Financial Group will integrate the mobile apps of its group affiliates?including banking, card, securities, and insurance?into its bank app, "SOL Bank." The group plans to merge the existing "SuperSOL," which already provides some of these functions, with SOL Bank to establish it as the group’s flagship app. The aim is to prevent customer attrition while strengthening the universal app’s capabilities, thereby launching comprehensive financial services that transcend traditional business sectors.
According to the financial industry on May 16, Shinhan Financial Group is currently pushing forward the "New SuperSOL Integration Project," which aims to consolidate the financial services of its affiliates, including the bank, into a single mobile app by June next year. In connection with this, Shinhan Bank recently issued a bid notice for the platform’s development. The project’s total budget is 15.6 billion won.
Currently, Shinhan Financial Group operates SuperSOL, which combines some features of each affiliate’s mobile app, separately from the individual affiliate apps. The core of this project is to absorb and integrate SuperSOL into the bank’s mobile app, SOL Bank. At present, SuperSOL covers about 30% of group services, but the group plans to expand this to 100%, effectively incorporating all affiliate financial services into SOL Bank. This marks a shift from the previous strategy of positioning SuperSOL as the integrated app, with the new goal of developing the bank-centric SOL Bank into the group’s flagship universal app.
A senior official at Shinhan Bank stated, "Operating SuperSOL showed us that it is not easy to move bank customers, and the migration process itself is inconvenient. We ultimately decided to fully revamp the widely used SOL Bank and transform it into a universal app." Currently, SOL Bank has 10 million monthly active users (MAU), while SuperSOL has around 3 million.
Although SOL Bank currently allows users to navigate to card, insurance, and securities services, it does not yet reach the level of a true universal app that consolidates all functions in one place. Similarly, SuperSOL mainly serves as a platform that lists each affiliate’s functions, rather than providing a fully integrated experience. Other major banks are also developing "super apps" by updating their banking apps, but there remains a difference compared to universal apps, where products and services across affiliates are organically connected.
The official added, "We started from the question of whether it is appropriate to have customers maintain their asset portfolios solely with bank products, or whether we should create an ecosystem within the app that allows for a more diverse portfolio in terms of customer choice. The goal is not simply to mechanically aggregate affiliate services, but to expand by integrating products across affiliates, aiming for a truly universal app."
With the integration, customers will be able to handle all financial transactions across group affiliates with a single app. It will also become easier to manage cross-sector asset portfolios than in the past. From the group’s perspective, this is expected to help attract bank customers to non-banking affiliates.
Shinhan Financial Group also plans to develop new converged group products and integrate benefits. By leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), the group aims to provide a form of investment advisory service that spans different financial sectors. The group expects to expand beyond bank products to include securities and insurance, offering investment recommendations or advice tailored to factors such as customer age and past transaction patterns.
Even after the integrated app is launched, the mobile apps of the insurance, securities, and card affiliates?as well as SuperSOL?will remain in operation for the time being. A bank official explained, "It will take time to stabilize the new system, and if there are any issues, each affiliate will need to be able to respond individually. Therefore, the existing SuperSOL will not be discontinued immediately and will coexist in a lighter form for a certain period."
Since adding more features could make the app heavier and slower, the project is focusing on improving performance. Another challenge is designing the app’s interface and user experience so that customers who only use the bank app do not find it inconvenient. Customers who have only used the app for simple tasks such as checking balances or making transfers may experience greater discomfort. The official emphasized, "The initial screen will be kept simple, and the services most frequently used by existing customers will be organized intuitively, while we continue to pursue convergence."
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