South Korea’s Shinhan Bank Co. has joined hands with Vietnam’s biggest mobile messenger Zalo to provide loans digitally and simply to broaden its consumer financing in the Southeast Asian market that has become the country’s third largest trade partner.

Shinhan Bank said on Thursday that its chief executive Wi Sung-ho and Vuong Quang Khai, chief executive of VNG Corporation, developer of Zalo, signed a business partnership agreement on Wednesday to jointly develop and introduce digital loan service Pocket Loan in Vietnam.

The latest agreement comes after Shinhan Bank and Zalo signed a comprehensive agreement in June, last year, to work together in developing products and services in new industries. The two companies created a joint task force and carried out market research and survey on Zalo users to develop a joint financial product.

Pocket Loan is a simple mobile loan product that integrates Shinhan Bank Vietnam’s non-face-to-face loan process and Zalo’s mobile platform. It allows users to check on Zalo application the amount of loans they can receive and interest and to apply for loan in just a click.

Shinhan Bank Vietnam enhanced consumer convenience by introducing an automatic system that informs consumers on key procedures through Zalo messenger in which otherwise would have been done through personal visits with loan registration documents to inform qualification review result and loan approval/rejection.

The two companies plan to filter Pocket Loan consumers via big data analysis. They will confirm product details and complete electronic development to launch Pocket Loan service by the end of March.

An unnamed official from Shinhan Bank said that the latest partnership is more than just a joint platform work but an innovative outcome of joint digital product with Zalo. The official added that it will continue to develop a diverse range of specialized products based on digital platform for each financial market.

By Chung Joo-won and Lee Eun-joo

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