Woori Bank's 'WibeeTalk' Ends Its Journey After 5 Years

Expansion Limits Due to Barriers Like KakaoTalk
Final Service Termination in November This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] Woori Bank's mobile messenger 'WibeeTalk' will disappear into history after 5 years.

According to the banking sector on the 8th, Woori Bank plans to phase out the WibeeTalk service, launched through a partnership with mobile messenger service company Brainicle, between October and November. From October 5, the WibeeTalk 'Talk Notification' service will be replaced by text message delivery, and on the 26th of the same month, all services except for 'Chat History Backup' will be terminated.

From November 26, it will be impossible to search for or run the WibeeTalk application (app).

Woori Bank launched WibeeTalk in January 2016 during the tenure of President Lee Kwang-gu, aiming to increase platform usage frequency by linking it with the mobile specialized banking service 'WibeeBank.' This project, which former President Lee, who emphasized a digital platform strategy, paid special attention to, was the first mobile messenger launched in the financial sector.

Immediately after its launch, WibeeTalk attracted attention with features such as easy remittance, financial information chat consultation, linked savings and deposits, and Dutch pay services.

In 2017, it introduced services such as real-time translation in 11 languages including English, Chinese, Russian, and Japanese with voice playback, and 'WibeeTalk Voice,' a service that allows remittance by voice.

Thanks to these differentiated services and various customer events, WibeeTalk surpassed 5 million subscribers that year and gained popularity, but it stagnated afterward. It is evaluated that it failed to demonstrate scalability due to the 'messenger barrier' of IT-based companies represented by KakaoTalk.

Although the number of subscribers was somewhat maintained, the frequency of use decreased, preventing further expansion.

Increasing Maintenance Costs and Other Burdens
Serious Consideration of Discontinuation Since the First Half of the Year

Ultimately, it is analyzed that the business viability deteriorated as maintenance costs continued to increase. Woori Bank began reviewing the discontinuation of the WibeeTalk service from the first half of this year, but it is known that more time than expected was required to minimize consumer damage and review related legal issues.

A Woori Bank official said, "We will do our best to ensure that customers experience no inconvenience until the final termination of the service." Woori Bank does not plan to prepare a separate service to replace WibeeTalk and will focus on digital and data innovation work currently being carried out mainly by the holding company.

Woori Financial Group is operating a Digital Innovation Committee chaired by Chairman Sohn Tae-seung. Kwon Kwang-seok, President of Woori Bank, serves as the Chief Digital Innovation Officer under the committee.