Government-led consumer finance data service kicks off

A government-led program that aims to give consumers more information and control of their personal finance data was officially launched Wednesday, allowing customers to manage their lives more efficiently.

The program dubbed “MyData” allows customers of 53 government-approved financial institutions to receive personal, customized and comprehensive finance data of their spending, all bank account balances, loans, insurance and more from the choice of their firm. The services will be allowed through separate mobile apps operated by the financial institutions.

According to the policymaking Financial Services Commission, 17 out of 53 financial institutions that completed reviews by authorities as of Tuesday, were greenlighted to launch their services Wednesday. The 17 financial institutions including six major commercial banks here including KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori, brokerages, credit card issuers and financial technology groups such as local budget management app operator Bank Salad. The remaining 36 including Naver Financial and Kakao Pay -- the fintech services of the nation’s largest internet portal and messenger app operator, respectively -- will gradually begin their services within this month.

While MyData users has been given an option to manage their finances more efficiently, its service providers are now able to receive broader and more in-depth information of their customers.

Kakao Pay senior manager of asset management Kim Sung-hoon said at an online press conference in September that the firm plans to utilize MyData in providing personalized finance reports and offering the “right investments” for the mobile payment service users.

At the same time, Lee Seung-hyo, chief product officer of Kakao Pay, highlighted the importance of information security and data protection as MyData deals with personal asset management based on in-depth data.

Before MyData, financial institutions offered similar services through scraping data from other financial firms, but now they’re required to utilize an advanced software interface called Application Programming Interface to collect customer data.

(mkjung@heraldcorp.com)