Starting next year, financial consumers will be able to manage their banking histories, shopping patterns at beauty stores as well as cellphone data usage via a single digital platform.

Shinhan Bank said Wednesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with CJ Olive Networks, an online retail arm of CJ Group and Korean mobile carrier LG U+ in order to jointly set up a digital platform for MyData services, the bank said. 

MyData is a government-led business model that collects and analyzes consumers’ data scattered across business sectors upon request and then makes personalized product recommendations. 

Under the partnership deal, Shinhan, CJ Olive and LG U+ will share financial, telecommunications and lifestyle data compiled from their as part of a move to forge the MyData platform, which is set to be launched as early as the latter half of next year, the bank said.

The details of the digital platform’s format, its available users or bid data categories have not been confirmed yet, it added. 

Through the joint project, Shinhan Bank is planning to expand the scope of MyData business in the country, which currently centered on personal financial information management services. 

“(Shinhan Bank) expects the envisioned project will enable the current MyData business to offer not only personal credit information but also vast amount of lifestyle data, providing consumers with new and unprecedented data-driven services,” Shinhan Bank CEO Jin Ok-dong said. 

The latest move is in line with the ongoing “big blur” phenomenon, whereby the boundaries between industries are crumbling down, mainly due to the advancements in information technology or rapidly changing consumer demands. 

For instance, local convenience stores have become a home for personal finance. The volume of cash withdrawals made through automated teller machines installed in convenience stores of GS25 across the nation, in which people use a digital wallet service offered by mobile payment operators -- KakaoPay, SSG Pay and Payco -- surged by 230.5 percent on-year between January and Nov. 15, according to retail chain. 

GS25, a convenience store chain owned by GS Retail, partnered with the easy-to-use mobile payment companies last year to meet growing demand for mobile-based banking transactions, officials said. 

Responding to the cross-industry movement, the financial authorities are ramping up efforts to ease related regulations that may hamper the nation’s industrial growth.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Economy and Finance unveiled its plans to relax the foreign exchange transactions regulations to allow people to get foreign bills at automated teller machines in convenience stores after they ask local lenders to exchange the Korean won for foreign bills via smartphone applications.

“We will have discussions with operators of convenience stores to launch the service starting in March next year,” the ministry official said. 

By Choi Jae-hee (cjh@heraldcorp.com)