Shinhan Bank is introducing a financial product that links card payments and loans in business-to-business transactions to automatically support purchase payments. It plans to improve convenience in corporate financing by executing loans at the time of actual goods purchases without a separate loan application.

Shinhan Bank said on Nov. 10 it will launch on Nov. 11 Bankplus, a dedicated B2B card payment-linked loan product, for the first time in South Korea.

Bankplus is a service in which a dedicated loan is automatically executed for the amount paid when a company makes a payment with a Shinhan corporate check card on a B2B supply chain platform. The bank said the loan is executed only at the time the funds are used for actual goods purchases, helping prevent use of funds for other purposes.

The first platform to apply it is the steel distribution platform eSteel4U. When eSteel4U member companies buy steel products on the platform with a Shinhan corporate check card, Shinhan Bank's dedicated B2B loan is executed at the same time as the payment.

The dedicated loan carries a preferential interest rate, and the bank also offers points worth 0.5 percent of the card payment amount. Shinhan Bank also separately launched an eSteel4U-only corporate credit card that accumulates 0.5 percent of the payment amount in line with the service launch.

A Shinhan Bank official said, "Bankplus is a new payment solution that goes beyond lending to improve corporate payment convenience and reduce financial costs." The official added, "Starting with eSteel4U, we will expand partnerships to various B2B industry platforms."