South Korea's Shinhan Bank Turns to Blockchain to Speed Up Loan Issuance

Shinhan, one of the oldest and largest banks in South Korea, is using blockchain technology to speed up the approval process for loan products.

Specifically, the bank will use a blockchain platform to verify the items of proof required for credit lending, such as qualification or certification documents, Yonhap reported Monday.

Until now, customers had to submit these documents directly to the bank to undergo time-consuming manual verification of their authenticity, according to the report.

With the blockchain-based verification system, Shinhan is expecting to process these documents more quickly and at a lower cost.

The bank has reportedly already applied the technology to its "Shinhan Doctors" loan product, reducing the time taken to confirm whether a customer is a regular member of the Hospital Doctors' Council from two to three days to “real time.”

A Shinhan Bank official was quoted as saying in the report that the blockchain system is expected to boost the number of "non-face-to-face" loan products processed and that the bank plans to expand the system to more products.

Founded in 1897, Shinhan has been exploring blockchain technology for some time now. Last year, it trialed cross-border remittances for business customers using Ripple’s blockchain technology. As far as back in 2015, Shinhan invested around $427,000 in blockchain remittance startup Streami.

Editor's note: This article is based on a report translated from Korean.

Shinhan Bank image via Shutterstock