A senior executive of SK C&C, a leading system integration developer in South Korea, said that the company would open the nation’s first online-only Internet bank as early as next year.

“SK C&C is currently considering participating in projects to set up Internet banks together with financial institutes, local governments and ICT firms,” said Lee Ki-yeol, executive vice president of the company in a press meeting Tuesday in Seoul.

“The Korean market will likely see the first Internet bank next year,” he added.

The company ― if it inks deals with its potential partners ― will be mainly focused on establishing IT systems for online banks to be run by its partner firms.

Explaining SK C&C’s business plans to develop IT solutions specialized for Internet banks with no branches, he said the company’s products and services will be highly cost effective to lessen the burden on customers concerned with high prices for building and running IT systems for Internet banks.

He refused to give details on ongoing negotiations with partners, but the Gyeonggi Province government is said to be planning to launch an online bank dealing with small loan services.

“With a competitive edge in building bank systems, SK C&C will be able to help partners in running Internet bank businesses efficiently and contribute to the growth of the Internet bank industry in Korea,” the executive said.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)