Hana Bank and Hana Card will introduce a financial service on Dongkuk Steel's steel trading platform that combines corporate loans with card payments. The service will allow small and midsize companies buying steel to borrow purchase funds and make payments without separately logging into a bank.

Hana Bank and Hana Card said they signed a business agreement with Dongkuk Steel to support funding for companies purchasing steel products.

The programme will cover about 3,000 partner buyers using SteelShop, an online direct steel trading platform operated by Dongkuk Steel.

The three companies will jointly develop a "One-Transaction" system under which steel orders, loans and payments are processed as a single transaction on SteelShop. They aim to start the service in the fourth quarter of this year.

Once introduced, buyer companies will be able to execute Hana Bank's B2B credit line loans by pressing a payment button on SteelShop. They will also be able to settle purchase payments through Hana Card's payment network.

The plan is to increase convenience in corporate cash management by reducing procedures that previously required submitting documents separately or logging into internet banking to use purchase loans.

Hana Bank plans to apply preferential interest rates to the purchase financing loans. It aims to ease financial cost burdens for small and midsize companies buying steel and support liquidity needed to procure raw materials.

Seo Yoo-seok (서유석), deputy president of Hana Bank's Corporate Group, stressed: "We will reduce payment procedures and funding burdens for buyer companies by linking the financial functions of the bank and card business to a B2B transaction platform."

Lee Wan-geun (이완근), managing director of Hana Card's Sales Group, said: "We will support stable operation of the new system by leveraging capabilities built up in the B2B payment market."

Kwak Jin-soo (곽진수), head of sales at Dongkuk Steel and a managing director, said: "Through this cooperation, we will ease the burden of raw material purchases for companies using SteelShop and continue to develop support measures for mutual growth in the steel industry."