Internet Banks Achieve Loan Targets for Low-to-Medium Credit Borrowers in Q1 This Year

Toss Bank Holds the Largest Share at 36.3%
K Bank and Kakao Bank at 33.2% and 31.5% Respectively

The three internet banks (KakaoBank, K Bank, and Toss Bank) all met the benchmark of 30% for the proportion of mid-to-low credit loans in total credit loans for the first quarter of this year.

According to the Korea Federation of Banks on the 24th, Toss Bank's share of credit loans to mid-to-low credit borrowers is 36.3%. Following that, K Bank recorded 33.2%, and KakaoBank 31.5%. All three figures are higher than those of the fourth quarter of last year.

Toss Bank's average outstanding balance of mid-to-low credit loans is 4.19 trillion KRW. Toss Bank explained that it has continuously invested in advancing its proprietary credit evaluation model, TSS (Toss Scoring System), actively identifying sound mid-to-low credit borrowers who have repayment ability but were undervalued in the existing formal financial system. It added that it was able to maintain the highest level of inclusive finance through initiatives such as the first non-face-to-face personal business loans among internet banks and the launch of the Sunshine Loan Bank.

K Bank supplied 300 billion KRW in mid-to-low credit loans during the first quarter of this year. Since its launch in April 2017, the total amount of mid-to-low credit loans supplied by K Bank up to the first quarter of this year reached 6.3 trillion KRW. To practice inclusive finance, K Bank implemented interest cashback on emergency loans, interest cashback for small business owners, and emergency living expense support for micro-business owners in the first quarter of this year. For credit evaluation model advancement, it introduced the 'Naver Pay Score' based on non-financial data in March, collaborating with Naver Pay for the first time among internet banks. It will also introduce the telecommunications data-based model 'Telco CB,' developed by the joint credit evaluation company of the three major telecom operators (SKT, KT, LG Uplus), within this year.

KakaoBank, which was the only internet bank to achieve the mid-to-low credit loan expansion target last year, surpassed an all-time high of 4.6 trillion KRW in outstanding mid-to-low credit loans (including personal business loans, based on the first quarter average balance). The cumulative supply amount reached 11.3 trillion KRW. The proportion of mid-to-low credit loans in credit loans supplied in the first quarter of this year was about 35.5%, an increase of 10 percentage points compared to the first quarter of last year. It is also analyzed that KakaoBank was responsible for about half of the mid-to-low credit loan supply among internet bank individuals in the first quarter of this year.