Woori Bank has been able to sell 29.7 percent of its stake held by the government to seven successful bidders in November. It plans to use the momentum to become one of the leading financial groups in Korea, joining KB Financial, Hana Financial and Shinhan Financial Group.
The bank, out of government control now, can make its operation diverse by picking up financial firms in diverse financial sectors including securities, investment banking and M&As, among others. Woori Bank issued $500 million worth of KoKo Bonds in September to boost its BIS rate to a satisfactory level of 14.2 percent and the bank will make sure that it will not miss the BIS rate again as it becomes a holding company.
The bank is also slated to speed up its integrated platform operation now that it has become a professional mobile online bank for the first time in Korea by strengthening its online banking operation, including Weebee Banking to speed up fund transfers, mobile loans and music game service, traveler leisure insurance and money exchange, among others.
The bank will analyze information and data from Big Data for credit analyses of the borrowers, who operate small businesses before issuing loans in lieu of getting various papers, including even financial statements, which can be submitted to the bank online without physically visiting the bank and without collateral. The bank will use the scraping mobile technology for the collection of financial information and data on individual businessmen.
From this year, the bank opened its financial messenger services even wider, including Wibee Talk, Wibee Club, Wibee Members, in a bid to spur its financial services attuned to customers’ daily financial needs. Woori Bank also plans to use WiBee Talk to further expand its global operations. The bank already introduced WiBee Talk versions in English and Chinese, but also added other foreign language versions, including Vietnamese and Indonesian.
The banks also opened the Talk, Talk magazine and Infographic to provide information and data on how to make money in the financial market. The bank also provides the information on restaurants, real estate, travel, health and other information that is beneficial to daily life through Wibee Talk.
The Wibee Platform is “A bank in the palm of your hands” through smartphones connecting daily life and finance as an integrated platform. It has been recognized as such in various countries including Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Japan, Brazil and Bangladesh as the bank expands its global operations.
“Woori Bank will step forward to be a leading internet bank as a representative Asian bank armed with the spirit of the First Mover and the successful privatization no longer subject to government control.” officials of the bank said. Woori Bank, which has been growing at a surprising pace, sees WiBee Talk becoming one of its future growth engines. President Lee Kwang-goo told a group of reporters that the bank plans to nurture WiBee Talk as a platform that can connect with various other business sectors, securing a great number of customers for the mobile platform.
The bank launched the mobile messenger for the first time in the banking industry on Jan. 6 has been attracting a large number of customers due to its intuitive interface and an ad campaign employing Gagman Yoo Jae-suk as a model.
A model in promotes Woori Bank’s Wibee Talk platform, a mobile messenger, which the bank introduced for the first time in the financial industry in Korea.(Photos: Woori Bank)
