NH Nonghyup Bank said on April 24 it signed a memorandum of understanding with Agribank in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 22 for strategic cooperation on digital agricultural finance.

Key areas of cooperation include building an integrated farming and finance platform, a card-based overseas remittance service, card products linked to K-content, and cooperation related to Agribank's privatisation.

Nonghyup Bank will support Agribank in building its agricultural finance platform, based on its experience operating its own platform. It plans to pursue joint development in particular using functions of NH Oneul Nongsa. The platform provides services including brokerage of rural labour, real-time sales and settlement for local foods, and crop wholesale price searches.

It also plans to share its experience operating consumer-focused services such as non-face-to-face agricultural finance and joint purchases of agricultural and livestock products. It will also pursue building a card-based overseas remittance system. It aims to reduce fees and shorten remittance times compared with existing services. It is also reviewing the launch of card products that include discounts at K-content merchants.

Tae-young Kang (강태영) said it was meaningful as cooperation between agricultural finance institutions representing the two countries. He said the bank would strengthen its competitiveness in global business based on its capabilities in agriculture and digital finance.