South Korean banks sharply increased their investment in tech startups in the first half of the year.
The investments of South Korean lenders in low-credit tech startups reached $1.05 billion in the first half of the year, up 48.9 percent from the end of 2016, according to the country's Financial Services Commission (FSC).
The watchdog also said KEB Hana Bank scored the most points in its assessment of lenders' technology finance, or investment in and lending to promising tech startups based on their growth potential.
KEB Hana Bank received 72.7 points on a 100-point scale, followed by Shinan Bank with 72 points. It marks the first time since the latter half of 2014 that KEB Hana Bank has topped the list of technology finance providers.
Internet Only
«Local lenders seem to be ramping up efforts to provide funds to prospective tech startups by taking stock of their technologies properly and extending more financing,» the FSC said.
Earlier this year Kakao Bank, South Korea's second Internet-only bank, attracted some 800,000 accounts in only a few days after it launched.
The bank said the number of new clients reached 826,000 after four days, more than 1.48 million users also downloaded the Kakao Bank (KB) application. Its performance surpassed that of K-Bank, the nation's first Internet-only bank, which kicked off in April.
