Kia to invest W10b in Bank Salad

The country‘s second-largest carmaker Kia said Monday it will invest 10 billion won ($8.7 million) into local fintech company Bank Salad in a bid to set foot in the mobility data business.

Through the investment, Kia seeks to forge a partnership with the fintech firm to develop data technology for the mobility industry such as open data platform for cars and connected cars.

They plan to launch car insurance services that use MyData, a government-led project to comprehensively collect and analyze personal finance data. The insurance service will be unveiled after combining consumer’s purchase data from Kia and personal finance data from Bank Salad, according to Kia.

“We plan to work with Bank Salad and reshuffle our business to provide innovative mobility solutions,” a Kia official said.

The investment decision was made as Kia banks on the fintech’s years-long experience in personal finance management service since its launch in 2017. As of July, it tracked the spending and budgeting of personal assets as much as 410 trillion won. The total downloads figure of Bank Saland‘s app surpassed 8.8 million.

Last month, Bank Salad obtained a license from the country‘s financial regulator Financial Services Commission as MyData service provider.

Meanwhile, after Kia changed the corporation’s name from Kia Motors to Kia last year, it is in a full swing to roll out its long-term business strategy “Plan S.” The plan is to take initiative in the future mobility industry such as mobility solutions and services that enhance user efficiency and convenience by combining IT and vehicles, according to Kia.

By Byun Hye-jin (hyejin2@heraldcorp.com)