Hyundai Card exports AI software platform to Japan’s SMCC

Chung Tae-young, Vice Chariman and CEO of Hyundai Card.

Hyundai Card Co. has exported its data science-based artificial intelligence (AI) software platform, UNIVERSE, to Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co. (SMCC).

According to industry sources on Thursday, the deal was signed early last year and is valued at several tens of billions of won, reportedly the largest single software export in South Korea’s history.

The export reflects Hyundai Card’s accelerated shift from a traditional financial company toward a technology-focused business, a transition reportedly led directly by Vice Chairman and CEO Chung Tae-young.

As part of this effort, the company moved its focus from data analysis and algorithm development to data design. Hyundai Card structured its data using a proprietary system known as “tags” and built UNIVERSE as an ultra-personalized customer marketing platform.

The system recommends optimal combinations of tags based on target customer characteristics or marketing objectives, delivering marketing efficiency six times higher than conventional marketer-led recommendations.

UNIVERSE advanced further as Hyundai Card expanded its private label credit card (PLCC) business, which effectively functions as a data alliance among leading companies across a range of industries.

Hyundai Card has since applied UNIVERSE to support a variety of missions for partners within the data alliance. Marketing collaborations, which totaled 10 in 2020 during the alliance’s early stage, have increased to more than 3,000, according to industry sources.