CDTB Colloquium, “Digital transformation is the key to the future of finance” 

CDTB Colloquium, hosted by KUBS (Dean=Dr. Bae, Jongseok) Center for Digital Transformation & Business (CDTB; Head=Dr. Baeho Kim and Dr. Byung Cho Kim), was held on Friday, Jun 4^th, in LG-POSCO Building SUPEX Hall. CDTB Colloquium is a program that mainly investigates firms’ digital transformation strategies. The center also works to build consensus among KUBS members and to secure active support from related external organizations. In this event, CEO Gwang-yeol Ryu of SGI Seoul Guarantee Insurance was invited as the keynote speaker and gave a lecture on the topic “Changing Environment of Financial Industry and Digital Transformation.” The event was held both online and offline, strictly following COVID-19 guidelines to prevent infections.

Before the start of the lecture, the Dean of Korea University Business School, Jongseok Bae, gave a congratulatory speech. He stated, “Since there is numerous research on the topic of digital transformation, it is important to be aware of what kinds of trials and experiments are taking place in different industries.” He showed his anticipation by saying that “I hope we can expand our understanding through today’s lecture on the financial field.”

CEO Gwang-yeol Ryu began his lecture by explaining the recent performance and the risk factors in the financial industry. “Due to the 2008 Financial Crisis and COVID-19, expansionary monetary policy continued, causing liquidity, household debt, and corporate bonds to increase. Consequently, the number of risk factors increased as well,” he said, pointing out the reality of an unfavorable financial environment. He thereby emphasized that the development of digital technology will change the game in the future.

CEO Ryu continued, “MZ Generation, who put importance on customer experience and prefer online communication, is the new customer base for firms.” “Many BigTech firms – such as Kakao, Toss, and Naver in Korea and Google, Apple, and Facebook in the world – are providing financial services as well. They are starting to take over the market as comprehensive platforms,” he said. As BigTech firms are taking control of FinTech and financial institutions, the financial environment is being centered on BigTech. Furthermore, CEO Ryu introduced the concept of a fast-changing financial environment centered on mobile technology, where AI or blockchain technologies are added to create services such as customer data-based product development. “Legislations in Korea are also starting to reflect the changes in the financial environment by implementing policies such as Financial Regulatory Sandbox and Data Bills,” he added.

Moreover, he explained how digital transformation will take place in the financial industry during the post-COVID-19 era. He further introduced the Marketplace and Open Banking Model based on platform and data sharing technology. “To fully achieve digital transformation, we need to change both the business model and the business organization, based on data-based and demand-oriented hyper-personalization strategy,” he said.

CEO Ryu ended the lecture by briefly explaining his company, SGI Seoul Guarantee Insurance, and its major tasks. He also introduced the company’s digital transformation plans by saying, “SGI Seoul Guarantee Insurance is planning to broaden its business area by utilizing AI and big data in various fields such as household purchase and compensatory damages. Moreover, it will expand its strategic partnership with FinTech and BigTech companies.”

Article | Sangbong Chung (College of Political Science & Economics, Department of PSIR ’17)

Photo | Serim Shin (College of Political Science & Economics, Department of Economics ’18)