KakaoBank Surpasses 20 Million Customers

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] KakaoBank announced on the 9th that its number of customers has exceeded 20 million.

According to KakaoBank, the number of customers has increased every year since its launch in July 2017. From 4.93 million customers in December 2017, it grew to 7.94 million in 2018, then steadily increased to 12.45 million in 2019, 15.44 million in 2020, and 17.99 million in 2021.

In the early days after its launch, most KakaoBank customers were in their 20s to 40s, familiar with the mobile financial environment. Among new customers from 2017 to December 2018, those in their 20s (31%), 30s (33%), and 40s (22%) accounted for nearly 90%.

Later, in October 2020, KakaoBank introduced the prepaid electronic payment service ‘KakaoBank Mini’ available for teenagers aged 14 to 18, which led to a significant influx of teenage customers.

For customers aged 50 and above, services such as ‘My Credit Information’ and ‘Dormant Deposit/Insurance Money Search’ were popular. Up to October this year, the proportion of new customers by age group diversified to 10s (19%), 20s (17%), 30s (13%), 40s (19%), and 50 and above (32%).

KakaoBank has launched personal business banking services covering not only loan products but also deposit products (accounts) and payment services (cards), and is preparing for authentication services. Recently, it has planned a service in partnership with Coinone that allows investment in virtual assets through real-name verification.

Additionally, through linkage with the domestic stock Mobile Trading System (MTS), the KakaoBank app will include features to trade stocks and check various news. In the first half of next year, users will also be able to trade funds via the KakaoBank app. A KakaoBank representative said, “Having grown into the ‘bank for everyone’ with 20 million customers, we will not only provide diverse customer benefits but also fulfill our social responsibilities.”