SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s leading internet-only lender Kakao Bank said Thursday its customer number has surpassed the 17 million mark nearly four years after its launch. Kakao Bank, led by Kakao Corp., the operator of the country’s dominant messaging app KakaoTalk, said its customers numbered 17.17 million as of the end [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s banking industry is performing a variety of experiments to ensure efficient and cost-effective branch operations, while, at the same time, speeding up the restructuring of branches as a way to promote a digital transformation. KEB Hana Bank and the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) joined hands to [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The use of non-face-to-face bank loans that can be applied for simply through several clicks online is on a steady rise. The outstanding balance of non-face-to-face loans at the nation’s 18 commercial banks as of the end of June 2021 totaled 111.8 trillion won (US$94.4 billion), an almost threefold [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean internet-only banks are ramping up efforts to attract more deposits in the wake of a newcomer’s entry into the fast-growing sector, industry sources said Wednesday. The heated race comes as the latecomer, Toss Bank, has begun receiving applications from customers even before its official launch scheduled for [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakaopay Corp., a financial unit of tech giant Kakao Corp., will suspend its car insurance comparison service later this month after providing an unauthorized brokerage service, industry sources said Friday. Kakaopay’s service to help customers find the best deal among six partnered car insurers, including Hyundai Marine and Fire [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s major financial holding firms that control large-sized commercial banks are asking financial authorities to grant them Internet bank licenses as a way to cope with competition from Kakao Bank and K-Bank. The four entities – KB Financial Group Inc., Shinhan Financial Group Co., Woori Financial Group Inc. and [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Citibank Korea Inc. has again postponed a decision on the exit plan for its retail banking unit amid differences over sale terms, industry sources said Tuesday. Citibank Korea, the South Korean unit of Citigroup Inc., had originally planned to hold a board meeting on Aug. 26 to determine how [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — KakaoBank Corp., a major South Korean digital-only bank, said Tuesday its net profit more than doubled in the second quarter from a year earlier, reporting robust earnings after it went public earlier this month. Net profit stood at 69.29 billion won (US$58.85 million) in the April-June period, compared with [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — K-Bank, South Korea’s first internet-only bank, said Tuesday it turned a profit for the first time since its inception in the second quarter of the year on robust growth in customers and deposits. Net profit stood at 3.9 billion won (US$3.4 million) in the April-June period, a sharp turnaround [...]
SEOUL, July 28 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s financial authority said Wednesday it plans to expand the ecosystem of the so-called open banking platform by inviting users of fintech services, allowing more people to enjoy simpler financial transactions. South Korea launched the open banking service in 2019, which centers on allowing customers to use any [...]