Hanwha Group has officially embarked into the newly emerging fintech, or financial technology, industry in partnership with China’s leading peer-to-peer lending platform Dianrong.

Hanwha said that Hanwha S&C, the group’s information technology unit, and Dianrong signed an agreement to establish an equal joint venture in Seoul Thursday.

The new joint venture, unnamed as of yet, will launch an open P2P marketplace lending service -- a modern service that matches lenders directly with borrowers online, cutting operational costs -- in Korea and Asia.

The development comes after the two sides sealed a memorandum of understanding in November 2015 to partner together to start a fintech solutions business in Asia.

The two sides will open the joint venture’s main office in Singapore within this month and begin its service, putting forward “the two firm’s expertise in handling transactions of some 15 trillion won ($12.5 billion) in Korea and major Asian countries over nine years,” according to Hanwha.

The joint venture is also looking to establish an affiliate in Korea in March and begin operating its P2P lending service starting from as early as August or September.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)