The amount of money spent through electronic payment services increased more than 13 percent last year. (Image : Pixabay)
SEOUL, March 30 (Korea Bizwire) – The amount of money spent through electronic payment services increased more than 13 percent last year.
According to the Bank of Korea, the average amount of money provided to electronic payment services by electronic financial business operators and banks reached an average of 252.4 billion won per day. The total amount grew by 13.8 percent compared to last year (221.8 billion won). The number of cases in which electronic payment services were used also increased by 2.7 percent compared to last year.
Electronic payment services are divided into categories such as electronic prepayments, electronic debit payments, payment deposits (escrow), and electronic payment settlement agency services. All of the services are provided by electronic financial business operators and banks for the convenience of consumers.
The growth in the usage of electronic payment services was noticeable due to the increase in online shopping.
Electronic payment settlement agencies, which receive credit card information and collect payments on behalf of online shopping sites, are handling larger sums of money on a daily basis. The amount of money transferred per day in 2014 was 151.3 billion won, but increased by 18.4 percent in 2015 to 179.2 billion won. The number of cases in which the service was used per day also increased 17.7 percent (3.62 million won per day).
Also, the usage of payment deposit systems increased 9.9 percent, and the average sum of money handled every day reached 45.6 billion won.
Consumers who use this type of service make a deposit at online shopping sites, and after the purchased product is delivered, the payment is processed.
The volume of electronic prepayment services also increased 4.1 percent, reaching 20.6 billion won per day. The services are usually provided through ‘transportation cards’, which can also be used to make small payments. Although the number of payments decreased 7.5 percent, due to higher public transportation fares, the total amount of money was tallied to reach 940 million won, which was a 16.7 percent increase compared to last year.
By M.H.Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
