On February 8, Kwon Joon-hak, president of NH NongHyup Bank, encourages employees and ask for thorough security and stable operation to ensure customer satisfaction at the Yongsan Customer Happiness Center. (Photo: NH NongHyup Bank)

In line with the full implementation of MyData, NH NongHyup Bank will enter the asset management service market competition in earnest, focusing on NH Asset Plus, a general personal asset management service.

Kwon Joon-hak, president of NH NongHyup Bank, is expected to seize an opportunity to revive his strength in asset management and digital sector capabilities immediately after taking office, banking industry analysts said in late January.

This is because competition in the asset management service market is expected to intensify as the MyData project is implemented in earnest about a month after taking office in January.

With the release of MyData operators’ main licenses, commercial banks are promoting integrated asset management as a major MyData service. In other words, president Kwon also needs to speed up the strengthening of asset management services. Kwon is believed to have a strong understanding of asset management and big data.

Kwon led the Retirement Pension Department and the Individual Customer Department for two years from 2016, and tried to upgrade asset management services by introducing “NH Robo-Pro,” the first big data-based retirement pension robo-advisor in the Korean banking industry.

Kwon played a major role in raising the amount of trusts by increasing return on retirement pension management, sources say. Kwon is taking advantage of these strengths and stepping up his efforts on asset management services.

NH NongHyup Bank will introduce new asset analysis services of NH Asset Plus by upgrading it around the end of February.

The NH Asset Plus will introduce additional services such as recommending products of affiliates based on consumption and asset status data. NH NongHyup Bank is also preparing services that compare assets with others, based on age or gender and use them to recommend customized products via NH Asset Plus.

The NH Asset Plus is a non-face-to-face personal financial management (PFM) service that collects and manages information on assets and liabilities at all financial institutions, real estate, real assets, pensions, and cash receipts. The service was launch in December 2020.

“We will make efforts to promote NH Asset Plus in earnest in line with the start of NH Asset Plus’ second version,” said an official at NH NongHyup Bank.

MyData refers to collecting financial consumer transaction information scattered to banks, cards, insurance, and telecommunications companies so that complex information can be checked or examined at a glance.

Based on a collected data analysis, a financial company develops and offers services that generate profits such as personalized product recommendation and financial advice.

On Jan. 27, the Financial Services Commission granted the main licenses for the MyData business to 28 financial companies and fintech companies, including NH NongHyup Bank. By establishing a standard app programming interface (API), a financial company will be able to provide integrated inquiry services more safely and conveniently.

Kwon is expected to zero in on targeting vacuum left by companies that did not receive the main license for the MyData business.

The NH Asset Plus is also connected with the popularization of asset management. This is because a bank will be able to expand the base of asset management services if the bank increases the number of customers by offering high-level asset management services which save customers visits to bank branches.

NH NongHyup Bank started from a group of agricultural cooperatives, so the proportion of customers with many assets is relatively low compared to commercial banks and the proportion of rural branches is high.

It is true that many people have recognized that services for customers with many assets do not belong to NH NongHyup Bank’s roles. Therefore, it is necessary for NH NongHyup Bank to show its asset management capabilities through NH Asset Plus.

In the meantime, SK Holdings C&C announced on Feb. 18 that it has started the My Data Service Platform Construction Project for NH NongHyup Bank.

NH NongHyup Bank plans to establish this service platform to provide innovative financial services such as data accumulation and utilization from customer perspectives, meeting information-oriented financial demand including asset management and financial assistance services and open finance and hyper-personalization marketing.

SK Holdings C&C will build platforms such as the MyData System and Portal.

“We plan to provide more convenient and innovative services for customers to create differentiated value for them through the establishment of the MyData platform,” said an official of NH NongHyup Bank.