HF Holds the 2021 Housing Finance Conference   

- Fintech and real estate experts gather to discuss the future directions of housing finance

- Experts forecast the prospects of the real estate market from the perspective of non-face-to-face financial services and Big Data

The Housing Finance Conference was held to identify new housing finance needs in this non-face-to-face era and develop competitive state-sponsored products and services. 

Korea Housing Finance Corporation (HF, CEO Choi Joon-Woo) announced on December 1, 2021, that it held the 2021 Housing Finance Conference at Conrad Seoul in Yeouido, Seoul, to discuss the future directions of housing finance <see image below>.

Kicking off with a keynote speech entitled ‘Digital Housing Finance: A Leap Towards A New Paradigm’ by Jung Yoo-Shin, Dean of Sogang University’s Graduate School of Business, the conference brought together fintech and real estate experts to discuss various housing finance-related topics. The event was also joined online and offline by senior officers from related government agencies and institutions, such as Park Jung-Hoon, Executive Director of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), and Kim Hak-Su, President of Korea Financial Telecommunications & Clearings Institute, who enriched the discussions with their insights. 

In his opening remarks, HF CEO Choi said, “Our main goal is to leverage Big Data to develop personalized products and services and AI and blockchain technologies to provide our customers with safe and convenient access to our housing finance solutions.” He continued,“To this end, we are gearing up to focus our capabilities on more innovative tasks.” 

FSC Executive Director Park noted in his congratulatory remarks that digital conversion is a mega trend across the entire finance sector, stressing “Housing finance should actively embrace digital technologies for enhanced customer convenience, better risk management, and greater inclusiveness.” 

Dean Jung Yoo-Shin of Sogang University’s Graduate School of Business delivered a keynote speech entitled ‘Digital Housing Finance: A Leap Towards A New Paradigm.’ In his speech, he reiterated that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is gaining more momentum in the financial sector. He commented, “Big Data integration is at the core of financial platforms. Financial transaction data by nature carry information that helps analyze consumer behaviors for all financial instruments. AI-powered analysis of the Big Data collected across all financial products will create synergy between the finance and non-finance sectors.” He also added, “Housing, the key consumer need, and finance will be ultimately integrated on a financial platform.”

In the first session, CEO Kim Jin-Kyung of Big Value gave a presentation entitled ‘The Current Status and Challenges of Non-Face-to-Face Financial Services.’ In his presentation, he mentioned aggravated competition in the market due to the emergence of fintech 3.0 and the growth of big tech firms in financial services. However, he cited ▲ Big Data-based collateral property valuation and ▲ the high-risk home loan guarantee transaction detection system as digital innovation cases in home financing. 

CEO Kim stressed the importance of establishing a Big Data-based decision-making system, saying that digital conversion triggered by technology innovations, such as data analytics and AI, is rapidly changing people’s lives and the business environment and ecosystems for companies, as well. 

During the second session under the theme ‘The Current Status and Prospects of the Real Estate Market from a Big Data Perspective’, Hong Chun-Wook, CEO of EAR Research, shared his view that “With the base rate set to rise, there is a need to closely examine housing market volatility.” 

The second session’s thematic presentation was followed by a panel discussion presided over by Professor Kim Kyung-Min of Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Environmental Studies. The discussion was joined by Ham Young-Jin, Head of Big Data Lab at Zigbang, Huh Yoon-Kyung, Director of the Construction & Economy Research Institute of Korea, Suh Young-Soo, Director of KIWOOM Securities, and Research Fellow Ko Je-Heon of HF Korea Housing Finance Research Institute to discuss the current trends and future prospects of the housing market. 

An HF official said, “Various views and opinions presented during this conference will be of great help in advancing housing finance.”

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HF CEO Choi Joon-Woo delivers his opening remarks at the 2021 Housing Finance Conference held at Conrad Seoul in Yeouido, Seoul, on December 1, 2021, to discuss measures to advance housing finance.