[이코노미스트] Banks who want to cry for revocation of public certificates

Banknotes that hung on accredited certificates, Buryaburya service development… Pointed out that “the face-to-face service base should be utilized”

As the era of accredited certificates that have monopolized the digital signature market ended on December 10, the sense of crisis in banks grew. It is an analysis that it completely lags behind private authentication, which is an electronic signature after the public certificate. Banks have delayed the development of certification market technology, leaned on the KFTC, which has been the subject of issuing public certificates. Meanwhile, Kakao, Naver, and Tos, as well as telecommunications companies, have entered the certification market and have already secured significant subscribers. An official from the financial sector said, “It was not fast due to the nature of conservative banks,” and said, “We are already experiencing inferiority in terms of the convenience of financial consumers.”

According to the financial sector, it turns out that banks are not competitive in the private authentication market. Even KB Kookmin Bank, which was actively engaged in private authentication by releasing the’KB Mobile Certificate’ in July last year, only used 5.7 million customers. This is in contrast to the fact that’PASS’, a private certificate of three telecommunications companies including SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus, exceeded 20 million cumulative issuances as of the end of November. The number of PASS certificates issued in January this year exceeded 10 million, and the number of issuance increased sharply due to the passage of the National Assembly of the revised electronic signature law in May. Information technology (IT) companies such as Kakao also entered the certification market.

It is an analysis that the bank has not been able to respond quickly to changes. In August, Hana Bank introduced a facial authentication service that can be used regardless of the mobile phone type, and NH Nonghyup Bank introduced the simple authentication service’NHOnePass’ only in early December. An official from the financial sector said, “The banks that played the role of verifying subscriber identity face-to-face instead of the KFTC were insensitive to change.” It did not take into account the inconvenience of consumers.

The Electronic Signature Act enacted in 1999 has achieved achievements such as revitalizing financial and commercial transactions through the Internet by introducing a public certification system. However, as it has been maintained for more than 20 years, a public certificate with superior legal effect has resulted in a monopoly on the digital signature market, blocking opportunities for new technology electronic signature companies to enter the market. In addition, the inconvenience of users such as installing ActiveX was great.

The immediate initiative is expected to be taken by the telecommunications industry that launched the PASS. PASS certificates can be issued within a minute by performing biometric authentication such as a 6-digit pin number or fingerprint in the app, and can be used free of charge for 3 years. Telecom companies explain that it guarantees the strongest level of security among private certificates because it doubles through name authentication and device authentication based on mobile phone subscription information. Currently, insurers such as Tong Yang Life Insurance, KB Insurance, IBK Pension Insurance and Heungkuk Life Insurance apply PASS certificates for simple inquiries about insurance subscription documents, and Mirae Asset Daewoo introduced PASS to simplify the electronic voting system for securities companies.

IT companies such as Kakao and Naver are also attracting attention as new powerhouses in private authentication. Kakao’s Kakao Pay certification, which started the private certification business early in 2017, also exceeded 20 million cumulative issuances in December. In particular, Kakao Pay authentication showed the strength that KakaoTalk users can use it immediately after going through the membership registration process without installing a separate app. The convenience is high in that it is a mobile certificate based on a Kakao account. An official from Kakao Pay said, “It can be issued directly from a smartphone and used on PC and mobile web without the hassle of copying it to a mobile device after issuing it to a PC.”

Naver, which is accelerating its advance into the financial sector, entered the certification market in March. When using a Naver certificate, you can also pay various fees with Naver Pay points after verifying your identity. Naver certificates were issued 2 million after 9 months of entering the market. Toss, a mobile finance app operated by fintech startup Viva Republica, is also showing prominence. The cumulative number of toss certificates wassuance exceeded 23 million in November. In the last two months, 6 million additional issues were issued, showing growth.

Given this situation, banks are strengthening their entry into the Buryaburya certification market. It is because of the sense of crisis that the certification market worth 70 billion won cannot be taken away. Shinhan Bank introduced its own certificate on the day the accredited certificate was abolished. As an advantage, it is possible to authenticate with simple login (pattern, simple password, etc.). Hana Bank launched the mobile app Hana One Q in the second half of the year and entered the certificate market by showing its own certificate. However, it is evaluated that IT companies such as Kakao, Naver, and NHN are applying the latest security technologies such as blockchain to certificates with their own information technology infrastructure as their strength.

Experts point out that banks should approach the direction of leveraging the strengths of financial companies. Banks, for example, have the strength of user loyalty. It is inferior in terms of user size, but if you secure loyal customers, you can capture some of the certification market share. In fact, IBK Industrial Bank has provided friendly face-to-face support to the digitally underprivileged, such as the elderly and the disabled, and made up 97% of IBK mobile certificate users as users of its online banking app. Professor Jeong Yoo-shin of Sogang University (Graduate School of Business Administration) said, “Banks are behind in terms of ease of use, but in terms of customer relations, they can show their strength in the certification market.”

Reporter Bae Dongju [email protected]