Kakao Pay signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Korea Credit Bureau (KCB), a leading comprehensive credit rating agency in Korea, on the 26th to collaborate on a new alternative credit rating model, the "Kakao Pay Score."
The signing ceremony took place at the Kakao Pay office located in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, with Kakao Pay's CEO Shin Won-keun and KCB's CEO Hwang Jong-seop attending, along with key executives.
Through this agreement, the two companies aim to launch a new alternative credit scoring model called the "Kakao Pay Score" and provide practical financial opportunities to thin filers—such as newcomers to the workforce, individuals with low to medium credit scores, and small business owners—who have faced difficulties accessing financial services like loans, in a joint effort to achieve "inclusive finance."
The "Kakao Pay Score" is a model that comprehensively utilizes Kakao Pay's extensive internal data, which includes various non-financial data such as my data, transactions, remittances, gift-giving, and spending patterns, selected by 20 million users in Korea. By adding KCB's 20 years of expertise and know-how in credit evaluation to Kakao Pay's vast data from a leading daily financial platform known for its high volume of transactions, it can analyze an individual's creditworthiness from multiple perspectives that were difficult to assess with traditional transaction-based evaluations.
It is expected that this initiative will open up financial opportunities for thin filers such as newcomers, students, and those with low to medium credit scores, who previously faced challenges in obtaining loans by traditional credit assessment standards.
Moreover, the "Kakao Pay Score" is not limited to the Kakao Pay loan comparison service; it aims to expand its application to loan and card applications made through financial companies' own channels, targeting comprehensive utilization across the financial sector. The "Kakao Pay Score" service is set to open next month.