Fair Trade Commission launches review of 'Naver Financial–Dunamu' merger

20-trillion super-sized fintech giant imminent

"Comprehensively consider restrictions on competition in the digital market, consumer impact, etc., in the review"

The Fair Trade Commission has officially received the merger filing between Naver Financial and Dunamu and has commenced a full review process. Given that this is a major combination in the digital platform sector, a thorough examination of market impacts is expected.

The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 28th that it has received the merger filing between Naver Financial and Dunamu and has started the review process.

The Fair Trade Commission said, "Because the corporate merger involves two of the country's leading giant digital platform companies, the ripple effects across the digital ecosystem are expected to be very large," adding, "We plan to conduct a careful review by comprehensively considering restrictions on competition in the digital market, consumer impact, and other factors resulting from this merger."

Earlier, Naver, Naver Financial and Dunamu disclosed a plan to invest 10 trillion won over five years following a corporate merger through a comprehensive share exchange.

Analysts say the review of the Dunamu-Naver merger is likely to be on a different level from ordinary merger cases. Beyond a simple aggregation of market shares, various aspects such as entry barriers due to data integration and consumer lock-in effects are likely to be examined.

The Fair Trade Commission is expected to closely investigate whether Naver's strong dominance in search and the shopping market could raise entry barriers if combined with Dunamu. If Naver Pay's commerce and payment data are combined with Upbit's investment asset data, there is a possibility that competing fintech firms or banks could be excluded.

The Fair Trade Commission's review outcome is expected to serve as an important guideline for future M&A reviews among domestic platform companies. Even if it passes the Fair Trade Commission's review, it may still need to separately obtain from financial authorities the authority to report changes for virtual asset service providers and a major shareholder suitability review. An antitrust lawyer commented, "The two companies' business areas do not directly overlap, and with the clear rationale of strengthening global competitiveness, the possibility of prohibition does not seem high at present."

Reporters Kim Dae-hoon / Ha Ji-eun daepun@hankyung.com