[Exclusive] Hiring ex-judge as outside director, Coupang Financial about to begin moneylending

[쿠팡 (연합뉴스TV 제공=연합뉴스)]

By Park Gyu Jun

Coupang has concentrated fully on its financial affiliates lately. After introducing a co-CEO system to its subsidiary, Coupang Pay, the company hired a former judge recently as an outside director of its second-tier subsidiary, Coupang Financial.

In late August, Coupang Financial appointed a judge-turned-professor, Park Hai-jin, as its outside director.

Park, who was admitted to the Judicial Research and Training Institute in 2006, served as a judge at the Seoul Central District Court, the Seoul Eastern District Court and the Chungju Branch of the Cheongju District Court between 2008 and 2013.

After joining law firm Kim & Chang in 2013, she had worked as a lawyer for eight years.

She is said to be specializing in lawsuits related to financial services, such as banking and brokerage.

From this year, she has worked as a full-time professor at Hanyang University School of Law.

The outside director is also known for getting a perfect score on annual college entrance exam.

As she joined Coupang Financial’s board, the company has been able to fill its board seats with a former judge, as well as a former financial regulator.

Coupang Financial’s CEO is a former director general of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). There is another former FSS executive who has served as the company’s outside director.

With the prominent directors, Coupang Financial has prepared for launching financial instruments.

In early September, it added the installment financing business to the list of its business purposes.

After the company received an approval in early August from the FSS for doing the specialized credit finance business, it began to prepare for such business in earnest.

Industry officials expect Coupang Financial to start an installment financing service from this year at the earliest.

It is highly probable that the company will lend money to sellers transacting with Coupang and receive interest from them.

Coupang also reinforced Coupang Pay recently by hiring more experts.

Coupang Pay holds a 100 percent stake in Coupang Financial as its parent firm.

It adopted a co-CEO system in late June, for the first time after its launch two years ago.

Through the series of measures, Coupang appears to be enhancing its competitiveness in financial services, as part of efforts to strengthen its new businesses.

*This was translated from the article originally written in Korean. For more accurate information, please refer to the original version by using the link below. In case of discrepancies between the two versions, the Korean version shall prevail.

https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/374/0000305014?sid=101

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