Over 370 participants from 200-plus teams nationwide
Program includes professional training, mentoring by industry practitioners
iM Financial Group announced Thursday that it held the launch ceremony for its fourth "iM:POSSIBLE Challenger" competition. The contest challenges young participants to build real-world financial services using AI agents, with top performers offered overseas training opportunities and preferential treatment in hiring at iM Financial Group affiliates.
Backed by the Financial Supervisory Service, the program has been running since 2022 to cultivate young talent for the digital finance era. This year's competition drew more than 370 applicants across over 200 teams, open to university and graduate students as well as unemployed youth nationwide.
Participants choose one of two themes — "Making finance more convenient through digital technology" or "Sustainable finance for all through eco-friendliness, mutual growth and inclusion" — and develop a financial service application using AI agents. The program focuses on building the practical skills the financial sector demands as generative AI becomes more widespread.
Teams will complete professional training and receive mentoring from iM Financial Group practitioners before carrying out projects on topics including agentic coding and ESG finance. They will then present their results at a two-day final hackathon scheduled for September, where the winning teams will be selected.
The grand prize winner will receive 10 million won ($66,200), with 5 million won for the excellence prize, 3 million won for the merit prize, and 3 million won each for two encouragement prizes. Grand prize, excellence and merit prize winners will also receive overseas training opportunities. All winners will receive preferential consideration when applying for positions at iM Financial Group's financial subsidiaries. This year, the competition also introduces a new "Financial Consumer Protection Special Award" for teams that propose outstanding consumer protection ideas.
Following the launch ceremony, iM Financial Group held a startup CEO roundtable with companies in its fintech incubation program, Pium Lab, exchanging views on network separation deregulation, AI technology demonstration and youth talent development.
"We hope this competition serves as a springboard for nurturing talent that will lead digital financial innovation," iM Financial Group Chairman Hwang Byung-woo said. "We will actively support young people so their bold challenges can translate into real financial innovation."
forest@heraldcorp.com
