CU X Hana Bank Macheon Park branch which opened in Macheon-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul on October 12. (Photo: Hana Bank)

Hana Bank announced that it will complete the establishment of a digital innovation channel combining finance and distribution at CU Macheon Park Branch in Songpa-gu, Seoul.

Services will be provided in earnest with BGF Retail, which runs the convenience store business.

The Digital Innovation Channel, first introduced by the two companies after renewing CU Macheon Park Branch, is expected to greatly improve the convenience of customers in need of financial services because there are no banks and automated teller machines in the neighborhood.

The Digital Innovation Channel has been established as a new space that combines services and content of the two companies, along with the sharing of space, by applying the BIs and CIs of both companies to CU Macheon Park Branch’s internal and external interiors.

This marked the first time CU has indicated the name of a partner brand on the store’s main signboard.

The store has a separate Hana Bank smart self-service zone to provide financial services. Hana Bank’s smart self-zone has one smart teller machine (STM) and one cash dispenser (CD) that can connect users with bank employees through a video phone.

In the Hana Bank smart self-service zone, customers will be able to easily use about 50 kinds of banking services including ATM services, user identification for financial transactions and bio authentication, opening new accounts, the reissuance of bankbooks and check cards and one-time password (OTP) cards.

The Hana Bank smart self-service zone can offer services except for some that require a video connection with bank employees 24 hours a day. It charges the same amount of commission as those received at Hana Bank branches.

The two companies plan to hold various events that can create synergies out of a combination of finance and distribution including additional price discounts and CU membership points when self-service zone users purchase good with credit cards issued by Hana Card at the store.

In addition, Hana Bank and BGF Retail plan to contribute to improving financial accessibility by comprehensively reviewing the establishment of the Digital Innovation Channel along while expanding various offline channel alliances such as opening CU convenience stores at Hana Bank branches.

“The newly introduced Digital Innovation Channel is designed to provide convenient life financial services to more customers in their everyday lives by combining the advantages of finance and convenience stores,” a Hana Bank official said.

“We will continue to provide simpler and more innovative financial services to users of both Hana Bank and CU Convenience Store of BGF Retail.”

On the other hand, Hana Bank announced on Oct. 8 that it has opened a digital fund platform named “Fun#, Fund Shop” that allows customers to experience funds with more pleasure in an easier way through Hana OneQ App, the flagship brand of Hana Bank’s smartphone banking services.

The Fun# platform offers easy and fun services that other banking apps cannot. Hana Bank expects this platform to meet the needs of MZ generation customers which have strong personalities and intuitive tendencies.

First of all, it has prepared customer-centered search functions such as investment trend searches by hash tags which empower users to find information about funds favored by CEOs and their peers among others. 

 Also available is the Better Consumption Life Service which recommends wise consumption activities by analyzing customers’ consumption patterns.

The platform’s Fund Class Webtoon teaches fund investment beginners how to become smart fund investors in an easy-to-understand manner. Through this, various financial education content, ranging from basics to investment methods, will be provided to increase the satisfaction of fund investment beginners.

Following the launch of the Fun# service, Hana Bank will strengthen its services by launching more customized services of the platform such as “Investing with a Small Amount of Money,” “Bucket List” and “Fund Mobile Gift” in November.