Hana Bank announced on Feb. 27 that it signed a business agreement with Seoul Auction to provide differentiated art banking and art services for customers of both companies at Hana Bank’s Arete Cube Gold Club on Feb. 25.
Through an agreement with Seoul Auction, Hana Bank will solidify its image as an art bank image differentiated from other financial companies by combining art with asset management.
In 1998, Seoul Auction became the first art auction company established in Korea. It auctions valuables in Korea and Hong Kong. It posted a total of 167 billion won in successful bids last year.
Through this agreement, the two companies will push for business partnerships and joint projects in various fields, including the art sales- and transaction-related business, art market collection advice and art-related services such as art mortgage loans, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and metaverse platforms.
Hana Bank will provide advice on artwork auction and purchase-specialized services to customers interested in purchasing artworks and will safely store customer-owned artworks by utilizing the bank’s storage space scheduled to open in the first half of 2022.
Hana Bank also plans to operate online and offline communities that provide systematic art services such as art culture education to customers interested in art and exhibiting artworks by utilizing the space of Club 1 PB Center, a premium asset management brand of the bank.
“Through a business agreement with Seoul Auction, which leads the domestic art market, Hana Bank will move beyond finance to serve as a reliable and trusted art bank that provides differentiated customized art services for all customers,” Hana Bank President Park Sung-ho said.
Hana Bank opened the “Arete Cube Gold Club” in Gangnam Center in Seoul in 2020 - a first for a financial company - providing traditional art services such as art funds and advisory services that combine artwork auctions and investment and finance for high-value asset owners and art collectors.
Hana Bank signs a strategic business agreement with QRAFT Technologies at its headquarters in Euljiro on March 8. Kim Ki-seok (right), vice president of Hana Bank’s asset management group poses for a commemorative photo with Kim Hyung-sik, CEO of QRAFT Technologies. (Photos: Hana Bank)
Meanwhile, Hana Bank announced on March 8 that it has signed a strategic business agreement with QRAFT Technologies, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based fintech startup.
QRAFT Technologies established in 2016 operates an AI equity traded fund (ETF) listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Based on its own deep learning algorithm technology, it provides AI technology introduction solutions to many Korean financial companies.
During the business agreement ceremony, Hana Bank and QRAFT Technologies agreed on the recent disappearance of boundaries between heterogeneous industries and agreed not only to converge finance and AI technology but to upgrade the utilization of AI technology in line with rapid changes in the financial market.
The two companies plan to expand the scope of their business cooperation so that they will be able to introduce new financial business models that combine AI technologies such as introducing AI solutions related to MyData services, analyzing the financial market and developing financial products using big data.
The bank is currently implementing an asset management service with QRAFT Technologies’ AI technology through its robo-advisor “HiRobo.”
In the era of digital transformation, AI technology is increasingly utilized in traditional areas of finance, and also in general industrial sectors such as management strategy and personnel management, said Kim Ki-seok, vice president of asset management at Hana Bank.
“We hope that our business agreement with QRAFT Technologies with unique technology will serve as a new foothold for Hana Bank’s digital innovation,” he said.
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