Woori Bank to Accelerate Digital Transformation in Effort to Outsmart Competitors

Woori Bank President Lee Won-duk who celebrates his 100th day in office visits sales groups and branches across the country to listen to the voices of those in the field and reflect them in his management on July 1. (Photo: Woori Bank)

Woori Bank decided to make a leap forward as a customer-centered No. 1 financial platform company at the beginning of 2022. The lender is pumping up efforts to sharpen its digital competitiveness.

Digital innovation is also a management strategy pursued by Woori Bank President Lee, who sets Woori Bank's future directions. Accordingly, Woori Bank is conducting digital innovation in various fields.

Based on a license for the MyData business (personal credit information management business), which Woori Bank acquired in January last year, the bank is continuously expanding its MyData services to increase its data-based business capabilities and elevating work efficiency by enhancing its AI and big data capabilities.

In addition, Woori Bank is expanding its partnership with non-financial industries to boost life-friendly digital platforms.

In detail, MyData services are offering subscription services that allow customers to easily obtain information on products and services of partner companies subscribed to by customers for the first time in the Korean banking industry.

The subscription service allows customers to accurately check the type, payment amount, and payment date of products, which they regularly subscribe to.

It also implements the function of subscribing to partner companies’ products and services if they want to, thereby attracting customers.

AI counseling services, including AI counseling robot and chatbot services, have also been upgraded. AI counseling services are mixed with AI language technologies, such as speech to text (STT) for voice recognition, text to speech (TTS) and natural language understanding.

The AI counseling robot offers voice services and the AI chatbot communicates with people through texts.

Counseling Assistant, a robotic process automation (RPA) program for customer counseling, has been advanced and expanded.

Counseling Assistant is a program that automates simple and repetitive tasks, such as printing real estate registers, while consulting customers. Sales people are making good use of Counseling Assistant.

Woori Bank fully introduced We-Note, a co-work tool for efficient document production and reports.

According to the bank, We-Note is boosting Woori Bank’s work efficiency and productivity by dramatically slashing joint working hours using cloud-based web documents.

Woori Bank also made an improvement to Woori WON Banking’s main screen and entire menu and elevated its login and processing speed. This is part of the bank’s DT strategy to set up a comprehensive customer-friendly financial platform.

In particular, Digital Express branches have been opened. A Digital Express branch is an unmanned store which provides three types of digital devices — a digital desk, a smart kiosk, and an automatic teller machine (ATM). The Munsan, Ui and Guil Branches opened Digital Express branches in December last year.

Customers can use various banking services, such as new deposits, card issuance, and various reports through smart kiosks, and can handle cash deposits, withdrawals and money transfers at ATMs through video counselors at Digital Express branches.

Digital Express branches are a micro-channel to help those with digital financial vulnerabilities such as senior citizens in neighborhoods without offline branches adapt to advanced new financial machines and systems.

Woori Bank plans to selectively operate Digital Express branches to provide better financial services for those in towns with offline branches.

Woori Bank is also focusing on new digital technologies.

It established a blockchain platform, which is an open-source network. A blockchain platform refers to a network environment that can safely protect personal information in various transactions such as payment, authentication and asset management and ensure the reliability of transactions by using blockchain technology.

Woori Bank passed technology verification for the distribution of the Bank of Korea's digital currencies to private institutions. It did so by establishing the blockchain platform, and plans to actively respond to digital currency distribution expansion tests in the second half of the year.

The blockchain platform will be used for various services, such as “Woori Bank Digital Currency (WBDC),” a stable coin and the issuance of non-fungible tokens (NFT) that can prove ownership of digital assets.