KFCC partners with Google for Fiji launch

Fiji government representatives and other participants of a Saemaul Geumgo capacity-building workshop pose for a picture at the Google Korea building in Seoul on Dec. 11. (The Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives)

The Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, the nation's primary mutual financial institution, also known as Saemaul Geumgo, held a capacity-building workshop ahead of opening its first branch in Fiji.

Ten visitors, including government officials and villagers, from Fiji flew in for the workshop, which was held for 10 days in December at the MG Human Resources Development Institute in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province.

Held as part of the South Korean Interior Ministry's official development assistance projects, the workshop was devoted to educating its attendees on the cooperative's operational mechanisms, including governance, savings and loans.

During the workshop, the participants visited Google Korea, a new partner of KFCC on its expansion in Fiji.

Since 2016, the KFCC has been making efforts to expand its financial inclusion model in developing countries. A total of 58 overseas branches operated by the local village communities have been set up until now, including in Myanmar, Uganda and Laos.

Fiji, an archipelago country located in the South Pacific, is its next destination, with the country's first Saemaul Geumgo branch expected to open if early in January, a KFCC official told The Korea Herald Tuesday.

The partnership with Google comes amid the cooperative's efforts to bolster the expansion of digital financial inclusion in Fiji, the KFCC explained in a recent statement.

The statement quoted Timothy Paolini, Google's Asia-Pacific region lead, who said, “We shall cooperate with Saemaul Geumgo in the effort of establishing a digital platform for financial inclusion in developing countries including Fiji."

By Choi Ji-won(jwc@heraldcorp.com)