Korean lenders move into online mortgage space to rival Kakao Bank

Competition is expected to get fierce to dominate South Korea’s non-face-to-face mortgage loan market worth 750 trillion won ($651 billion) as traditional retail banks are moving more customers online or mobile in the sector with improved services to rival online only banks.

KB Kookmin Bank will launch a new online and mobile lending system this month under its ‘All-in-One’ project to allow customers to use every type of loan products including mortgage loans without visiting a branch, according to industry sources on Sunday.

The lender will allow online mortgage lending for houses under joint names, valued at more than 900 million won ($789,979) in regulated areas, under provisional registration or seizure and more than 500 million won in loans that have not been available for online lending due to complex regulations.

“We aim to increase the share of online mortgage lending to 30 percent via the All-in-One project by next year and add staffers to the smart counselling team,” said an official from the bank.

NH Nonghyup Bank is upgrading its online lending system to make digital mortgage lending available for flat and studio apartments as well as for recapitalization, according to an official. Shinhan Bank also plans to complete its own online mortgage application system in August or September.

Digital mortgage loans represent less than five percent of new mortgage loans recently provided by commercial lenders, compared to other loans with a share between 22 percent and 88 percent in online lending, industry experts said.

But offline lenders are rushing to offer mortgages non-face-to-face after Kakao Bank last month announced its bold plan to launch a digital mortgage lending service by the end of this year to allow customers to apply and take out mortgage loans 100 percent digitally.

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