Hana partners with Hyundai, Kia for connected car financial services

Officials from Hyundai Motor, Finda and Hana Bank pose for a photo marking a new partnership among the firms.(Hana Bank)

South Korea’s Hana Bank on Monday said it has teamed up with the nation’s top automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia alongside fintech startup Finda to develop financial services and products tied to connected car technologies.

A connected car refers to a car equipped with internet access, usually a wireless local area network. This allows the car to share internet access and data with other devices inside and outside the vehicle.

Though details are currently in the works, Hana plans to jointly develop financial products for connected car users and search for new big data projects, with the new partners. The partnership will be further expanded to introduce new services to the financial market, Hana said.

Hyundai and Kia have been providing its connected car services to its customers through systems “Blue Link,” “Kia Connected Services” and “Genesis Connected Services.”

Hana’s fintech partner Finda operates an eponymous web portal that provides information about financial products -- ranging from personal and mortgage loans, investment instruments, credit cards to insurance products.

“The latest partnership enabled us to understand the future of the auto industry beyond its fundamental purpose of providing mobility,” Kim So-jung, deputy president of Hana’s digital retail team said.

“We will continue to make efforts to improve customer convenience by catering to their needs of providing a lifestyle platform which integrates banking and auto services with finance technology.”

Hana Bank reported a net profit of 1.25 trillion won ($1.05 billion) for the first half of the year, up 17.9 percent on-year.

By Jung Min-kyung(mkjung@heraldcorp.com)