The collaboration between the South Korean telecom giant and BC Card will see the blockchain technology, which can improve transparency by allowing all parties involved to verify and share information regarding all transactions, used for the first time in the world in credit card customer data management including digital images of electronic signatures. (Image: KT)
SEOUL, Jul. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean credit card company BC Card is adopting KT’s blockchain-based electronic signature capture system (ESC), a world’s first, which could slash the time spent processing electronic signatures by up to 70 percent.
The collaboration between the South Korean telecom giant and BC Card will see the blockchain technology, which can improve transparency by allowing all parties involved to verify and share information regarding all transactions, used for the first time in the world in credit card customer data management including digital images of electronic signatures.
In the past, credit card companies were forced to spend a fortune to manage an overwhelming volume of customer information as the country’s electronic commercial law requires companies to save electronic signatures for the last five years in their database.
Having to send all image files to the main server and add customer information in a separate database has become a heavy burden for credit card companies in recent years, with more than 90 million credit cards issued in the country as of 2014, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
As the overall number of credit and check card holders shows no sign of dropping soon, KT expects the use of its new blockchain-based ESC system will proliferate in the financial industry.
Using automation technology, KT claims, the new ESC system allows digital images of electronic signatures to be saved in a credit card company’s database in real time, slashing both time and costs.
During a trial run which took place in March, BC Card reported a drop of up to 70 percent in the processing time for electronic signature preservation, while server usage was cut by up to 80 percent, KT said.
While BC Card plans to expand the use of KT’s ESC system to include contracts signed with its affiliates, KT’s Corporate Service Division head Lee Sun-woo is hopeful the newly developed electronic signature collection system will be widely adopted in the near future.
“Including electronic documents, such as digital contracts and electronic subscription systems, we intend to apply blockchain technology in the fields of distribution and content management as we go forward,” Lee said.
M.H.Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
