April 19, 2024

• 

A rendering of the MyData service provided by the Financial Services Commission.

South Korea’s financial institutions -- including banks, brokerages and credit card companies -- launched an all-in-one banking service Wednesday for customers to manage their financial data spread across financial firms in one place.

Called “MyData,” the service was put on a trial run in December before 33 financial institutions officially started offering it this week to help customers make more informed financial decisions looking at their account balances, loans and insurances all at once.

The financial companies providing the service through their smartphone apps are expected to roll out more personalized financial products to users, utilizing their own financial information received from a separate programing interface developed by the government.

“We’re looking to come up with an artificial intelligence-powered tool to help our customers with investment plans,” an official at Mirae Asset Securities said. The brokerage was the first securities firm to win a MyData permit from the Financial Services Commission.

“Our strength lies in human resources, our pool of analysts with years of experience in knowing what our customers want and when,” an official at NH Investment & Securities said.

But some officials with the knowledge of the matter cast doubt over efforts to make a unique appeal to customers, saying there was little room to do so.

“Every company has its own know-how and strategies. But I don’t see how far different their approaches could be, given that we have so many players offering the same service,” one official said.

More financial companies are expected to join the service by the end of January.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)