Fintech startup company BMO has received approximately US$1.8 million from investors including Yellow Financial Group, Settle Bank and Shin Hyun Sung the CEO of Ticket Monster for their P2P (peer to peer) loan service platform Honest Fund.

Honest Fund is a peer to peer personal loans and investments service, that directly connects borrowers to lenders without banking institutions. The platform provides borrowers access to funds that do not impact on credit ratings charging between 4.9% to 15.5%. For investors, the target average annual return on investment is 9%.

A key to BMO's service in Honest Fund is the ability to conduct detailed and accurate credit risk profiles that forecast the likelihood of an individual to default or encounter bankruptcy. This analysis technique also assesses non banking data like online behavioural patterns and mental characteristics of an individual.

Kim Joo Soo, the representative of BMO said “Honest Fund is a loan service that provides investors with a safe investment option and to borrowers provides relief by replacing high interest rates with lower ones”. With the investment, BMO plans to improve their risk analysis techniques by further developing other supporting data processing techniques.  The ultimate aim to is to create a reputable banking and transaction platform.

Since commencing, ‘Honest Fund’ has successfully delivered 16 loan investments and in July, established a strategic alliance with Shin Han Bank (First rating bank in Korea) for mutual development of techniques required for the P2P loan service industry.