Woori Financial Group effectively achieved its complete privatization, as Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC)’s sale of its remaining stake in the financial group was completed.
KDIC’s stake in the financial group will be reduced to 5.8 percent, and the right to recommend outside directors will be handed over to other shareholders, giving Woori Financial Group management autonomy.
KDIC transferred its 9.33 percent stake in Woori Financial Group to five successful bidders and received a total of 897.7 billion won in payment, KDIC said on Dec. 9.
In a related development, Woori Financial Group announced on November 28 that it decided to push for the establishment of an “MZ generation-specialized platform” in a meeting of the Digital Innovation Committee on November 26.
The event was Chairman Sohn Tae-seung’s first move since the financial group succeeded in its complete privatization to start a new platform business to secure future customers.
Woori Financial Group will grow the platform into a tech company based on a new system and organizational culture which are completely different compared to other financial platforms.
The platform to be built this time reflects the recent trend of the MZ generation’s growing interest in various assets, such as stocks, real estate and virtual assets, and plans to launch a wealth-tech platform specializing in investment support, in connection with Woori Financial Group’s plan to expand the securities sector in the future.
In the future, the platform will seamlessly provide the first exciting and convenient daily life solution services used by Generation MZ at any place and any time based on hyper-personalization powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
In particular, a task force team (TFT) will be assembled mainly with MZ generation employees to freely propose and test ideas for the successful implementation of this project.
At the same time, experts such as AI, blockchain, and UX/UI will take part in the development of differentiated solutions as advisors.
In addition, Woori Financial Group will set up a 200 billion won corporate venture capital (CVC) fund involving major group affiliates to strengthen network-based partnerships such as active equity investment with fintech companies and joint ventures (JVs).
“As the MZ generation accounts for 60 percent of Korea’s production age population in 2030, Woori Financial Group’s future depends on MZ generation customers,” Sohn stressed.
Sohn did not hide his strong will to create a new digital future for Woori Financial Group based on its success in its privatization in 2021.
In the meantime, Woori Financial Group announced on November 25 that it successfully held the “26th Fintech Demo Day, Woori Financial Group x Fintech Center Korea” held at the auditorium on the 4th floor of Woori Financial Group’s headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul on November 24.
Hosted by the Fintech Center Korea, an institution under the Financial Services Commission, the Fintech Demo Day is Korea’s leading fintech event involving all financial sectors.
Since Fintech Demo Day was held for the first time in 2015, it has served as pump-priming water for innovation in the Korean financial industry such as revving up fintech at the government, institutions, and companies and linking startup investment to fintech.
This demonstration day was held jointly with the Fintech Center Korea to provide investment attraction opportunities for companies belonging to Woori Financial Group’s startup cooperation program “DinnoLab.”
A total of eight DinnoLab companies advanced to the finals through the preliminary round, and the final four companies were selected as excellent companies through IR pitching activities on this demonstration day.
The final four companies will be given IR event opportunities by fintech innovation fund investment managers, while all of the eight companies will also be provided with opportunities to move into the center owned by the Fintech Center Korea and DinnoLab.
Eight DinnoLab companies made presentations on the demonstration day. Among them, the four companies selected as the final four.
They were Microprotect, a developer of automatic claim services for medical expenses, Datechniq, a two-wheeled car safety solution developer, Jewelry Store (Geumbang), a B2B jewelry trade brokerage platform developer and PetFins, a pet management living finance platform developer.
_MZ특화 플랫폼02.jpg)
