7th Anniversary KakaoBank, 12 Trillion KRW in Mid-Low Credit Loans Supplied "Continuing Inclusive Finance"

On the occasion of its 7th anniversary, KakaoBank announced on the 31st that its cumulative supply of medium- and low-credit loans has reached 12 trillion KRW.

By the end of last year, KakaoBank was the only internet-only bank to achieve its medium- and low-credit loan supply target. This year as well, the average balance of medium- and low-credit loans, including those for individual business owners, reached a record high of 4.6 trillion KRW as of the first quarter.

KakaoBank stated that over the past seven years, it has strived to lead comprehensive financial changes in seven directions: expanding customer age groups, broadening customer touchpoints, embracing medium- and low-credit customers, supporting individual business owners, reducing financial costs, protecting financial consumers, and driving financial innovation as a technology bank.

According to KakaoBank, as of last month, the number of customers reached 24 million. In addition to customers in their 20s and 30s who are familiar with mobile environments, inflows have increased across all age groups.

Looking at the age distribution of customers who newly joined KakaoBank from January to June 2024, teenagers (25%) and those aged 50 and above (37%) account for about 62%, which is about four times higher compared to the 14% share of these age groups among new customers from the launch until 2018.

KakaoBank introduced IT technology to reduce system construction costs compared to other financial companies, and linked this to reducing customers' financial costs. The customer benefits returned by KakaoBank through ATM fee waivers and other measures amount to approximately 1 trillion KRW.

The waived ATM fees total 347.7 billion KRW, waived early repayment fees 154.2 billion KRW, cashback benefits from check cards 430 billion KRW, and interest savings through the right to request interest rate reductions amount to 33.1 billion KRW.

A KakaoBank official said, "We will continue to practice sustainable inclusive finance and strive to provide various benefits that can help more customers."