Discussion on a fourth internet-only bank has resurfaced. While there is some shared view on the need for financial innovation and expanding inclusive finance, concerns over soundness and market saturation also remain significant. Experts said the focus should be less on its necessity and more on how it would be 추진ed.

On April 6, lawmakers including Min Byeong-deok (민병덕) and Lee Jeong-moon (이정문) of the Democratic Party and Shin Jang-sik (신장식) of the Rebuilding Korea Party held a forum titled, "The stalled fourth internet bank: Is a relaunch necessary?" at a meeting room in the National Assembly Members' Office Building.

At the forum, Kim Young-do (김영도), a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of Finance, agreed on the need for a fourth internet bank but stressed caution, citing past financial crisis experience. He noted that after many bank licences were granted in the early 1990s, large-scale bad loans emerged through the foreign exchange crisis, and about 100 trillion won in public funds was injected. "New bank licences inevitably come with risks," he said.

He pointed in particular to the issue of securing a deposit base, a key premise for internet banks, as an important variable. The existing three internet banks secured deposits through their own ecosystems such as platforms, payments and virtual assets, but new entrants may lack such foundations, he said. "Deposits are not secured naturally. It is directly tied to the business model," he said.

Lee In-mook (이인묵), a director at Korea Credit Data, said the fourth internet bank debate should be approached from a functional perspective rather than as a matter of form. "What is needed is not simply a fourth internet bank, but a specialised bank that properly understands small business owners for the first time," he said.

The key is data-based credit assessment. He said business data should be accumulated and used in a sophisticated way to properly reflect the creditworthiness of small business owners that the existing financial sector had not been able to assess. To that end, he proposed that approval conditions should be designed in detail from the licensing stage, including the share of loans to individual business owners, how data will be used and plans for dedicated products.

Financial authorities: "Verify innovative value and risks together"

Financial authorities are broadly putting more weight on "conditional caution". The Financial Supervisory Service said it recognises that internet banks have promoted competition and innovation, but that new licences should verify effects and risks together.

Lee Jong-jin (이종진), a team leader at the Financial Supervisory Service's Banking Supervision Department, said, "What matters is not the licence decision itself, but what value can be created and whether there is preparation to bear the associated risks."

On the failure last year to grant a fourth internet bank licence, he explained that "the main factor was not a lack of innovation, but insufficient stability in capital raising and weak soundness management plans," signalling these will remain key review criteria.

The Financial Services Commission also said it agrees on the need to support financially underserved groups, but that market conditions and the role of existing banks should be considered together.

Park Sung-bin (박성빈), an official at the Financial Services Commission's Banking Division, said, "We need to comprehensively review whether the supply of financial services for mid-to-low credit borrowers and self-employed people is sufficient, and whether a new entrant has the capacity to operate a banking business."