People using Viva Republica’s mobile financial service app Toss. (image: Viva Republica)
SEOUL, May 25 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans’ use of mobile banking and other online financial services increased in 2021 from two years earlier as customers preferred non-contact services amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) said its 2021 survey of 3,536 Koreans aged 19 or older showed 65.4 percent of the respondents answering they had used mobile financial services in the latest one-month period,
The percentage was up from 57.1 percent in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
In addition, roughly 42 percent of the surveyed said there had been a change in the frequency of mobile financial service uses.
In particular, people aged 40 or younger and households with a yearly income of 30 million won (US$23,740) resorted more to mobile financial services, according to the findings.
By means of payment, those in their 20s made greater use of debit cards, with people in their 30s-50s relying more on credit cards. Koreans aged 60 or older preferred cash.
According to separate BOK data released in March, the daily use of online banking services, including mobile banking, reached 17.32 million cases in 2021, up from 14.68 million a year earlier.
(Yonhap)
