Increasing Investment Products and Attracting Youth Customers at KakaoBank [1mm Financial Talk]

Service Revamp Through App Update
"Enhancing Customer Usability and Convenience"

KakaoBank has revamped its financial product investment services and is also targeting teenage customers. The intention is to attract new customers while retaining existing ones by enhancing usability and convenience.

According to the financial sector on the 1st, KakaoBank recently rolled out a 2.41 version update of its mobile application (app). The most notable update is the rebranding of the ‘Promised Returns Service’ to the ‘Securities Company Financial Product Investment’ service. Although investment in financial products linked with securities companies was already possible within this service, KakaoBank explained that customers did not recognize it as an investment service, so the service name was changed to be more intuitive.

With the update, various products can be easily compared in one place, and users can choose to receive only desired alerts such as new product launches and changes in yield rates. A new ‘Expected Returns Calculator’ feature has been added, allowing users to input their desired investment amount and check the expected returns from the financial product. KakaoBank plans to invest in partner securities companies and expand its range of investment products in the future.

Updates to attract teenage customers have also been made. The minimum age for opening deposit and withdrawal accounts has been lowered, allowing teenagers aged 14 and above to open accounts using their passports. Eight types of deposit products, including Safe Box, Piggy Bank, 26-Week Savings, and One-Month Savings, can now be opened. Previously, teenagers under 14 could only use KakaoBank through KakaoBank Mini. Mini is a prepaid electronic payment method with deposit and withdrawal functions that can be used like an account, but it did not allow subscription to other deposit or savings products.

In particular, teenagers can now subscribe to the Record Account, which had high demand for opening. Launched in April last year, the Record Account allows users to set saving rules in advance and keep records each time they save. For the favorite savings type of record, users can save photos or other items along with a certain amount of money according to their own rules whenever their favorite celebrity performs a specific action. Since customers who have subscribed to the Record Account access the app about four times more often than regular customers, it is expected to have a positive effect on attracting teenage customers.

Additionally, KakaoBank has revamped its automatic transfer service. Automatic transfers to other bank accounts can now be processed even on holidays. Previously, users could choose to transfer the day before or after a holiday, but now transfers can be processed on the holiday itself. A function to temporarily pause and resume automatic transfers has been added, and users can deposit funds in advance if their withdrawal balance is insufficient. Users can view all automatic transfer lists scattered across different financial institutions at once. It is now possible to move desired automatic transfers to KakaoBank or check scheduled automatic transfers in advance.