SK Telecom and the Industrial Bank of Korea (CEO Kang Kwon-Seok) held a signing ceremony for a strategic partnership, preceding the launch of services that would be a model for telecommunications/finance convergence. On December 21, the two companies established an agreement for partnership in corporate mobile fund management "CEO Phone" services at the Hyatt Hotel, and held a service demonstration, promising to make joint efforts for technology development and market creation.

The "CEO Phone" service launched by the Industrial Bank and SK Telecom is a corporate mobile fund management service through which businessmen and corporate managers can use PDA, smartphone type handsets to browse fund information saved in e-branch or CashONE, PC-based fund management solutions installed within the company, and approve expenditures. E-branch and CashONE are corporate fund management solutions provided by the Industrial Bank since September 2004 to conglomerates, upper-level companies and quality SMEs, and are currently being used by approximately 11,000 companies. "CEO Phone" services, provided through SK Telecom’s wireless Internet network, charge a fixed data call charge and usage fee, and are planned for sale by tellers at each Industrial Bank branch to corporate customers.

"CEO Phone" services are expected to bring about a dramatic change in corporate fund management operations, as ompanies’ fund data can be viewed realtime from outside via mobile phones, such as income/expenditure, receivables/payables, implementation of expenditures and status of financial accounts.

One CEO of an SME that tried the "CEO Phone" services in advance remarked, "Deposit of expected funds can be checked from outside the office through "CEO Phone", and expenditure requests by members of the accounting division can be viewed at leisure, allowing us to concentrate on our marketing activities. Status of financial assets such as the balance, transaction description of the company account can be checked real time. "CEO Phone" allows us to conduct our fund work safely and conveniently.

The Industrial Bank’s CEO Kang Kwon-Seok revealed, "Through joint development with Web Cash (CEO Seok Chang-Gyu), a partner that is receiving much attention in the domestic fund management solution market, in September 2004 we became the first domestic bank to launch fund management services. Also, through a strategic alliance with SK Telecom, the number one domestic mobile telecom service provider, and Web Cash, we have become first in the world to implement "CEO Phone" services, further consolidating our position as a leading bank in fund management services not only domestically but worldwide."

SK Telecom’s CEO Kim Shin Bae remarked, "SMEs, that have weak funding and infrastructure compared to large conglomerates, can now improve efficiency of their businesses at low cost through "CEO Phone" services. We hope "CEO Phone" services can establish themselves as a model example of telecom/finance convergence that can heighten the competitiveness of domestic SMEs."