Delayed Launch
The launch of internet banks within this year virtually came to naught.
According to representatives of the financial industry on August 2, K Bank and Kakao Bank are continuously delaying their application for the final approval. In the first place, K Bank drew up a plan to start its business operation within this year by applying for the final approval in August or September at the latest.
But its application is being put off due to the delay of IT system construction work. Kakao Bank was originally planning to apply for the final approval between November and December.
Some financial industry watchers say that it will be difficult for the two to finish applying for the final approval within this year. “It is highly likely that K Bank will be unable to apply to the government for the final approval,” said a high-ranked representative of the financial industry on August 2. “Taking into account the government’s review period after the application of the final approval, it will be difficult for the internet banks to inaugurate within this year.”
“It takes more time than expected to build IT systems for the internet banks and the internet banks are internally working hard to apply for the final approval as soon as possible. But it will be difficult to meet the deadline in September.
“As Kakao Bank is slower than K Bank, it will be impossible to see the opening of the internet banks within this year,” said another high ranker in the financial industry.
Analysts say that the delay of the construction of K Bank’s IT system is blamed on the fact that all systems should work in non-face-to-face situations and no internet bank was founded before. K Bank is building its system to handle four sectors -- bank accounts, sales channels such as a smart banking system, a customer data base and a security system -- all based on IT.
Little progress was made in the appointment of the first president of K Bank. But in the financial industry, it is a superior forecast that an IT specialist from IT companies such as KT will take the helms the first president of K Bank. K Bank is made up of 21 shareholders such as KT (8%), Woori Bank (10%), GS Retail (10%), Hanwha Life Insurance (10%) and Danal (10%). The absence of the largest controlling shareholder of K Bank may set off a struggle among shareholders over the appointment of the first president.