Post offices to offer bank loan services from next year

Korea Post CI

Loan products from South Korea’s four major banks – KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, and Woori Bank – will be sold on a pilot basis at around 20 post offices nationwide beginning in the first half of next year.

The Financial Services Commission said on Sunday that it had designated bank agency services and proxy services for exercising borrowers’ right to request interest rate reductions using MyData as innovative financial services during its recent regular meeting.

Bank agency services refer to a system that allows third parties to perform banking operations such as loan services on behalf of banks.

Once the system is implemented, post offices and nine savings banks, including Dongyang, Moa, and Incheon Savings Bank, will be able to handle financial products from the four major banks.

A pilot program will begin as early as the first half of next year.

An artificial intelligence (AI)-based interest rate reduction request service will also be introduced.

The core of the scheme involves personal MyData operators, referred to as AI agents, exercising borrowers’ right to request interest rate reductions on personal loans on their behalf.