Electronic Financial Industry Revenue Surpasses 10 Trillion Won for First Time Last Year, "Pay Services Continue Growth"

PG Companies Like KakaoPay, NaverPay, and TossPay Continue to Expand
Number of Registered Companies Up 10%, Sustaining Industry Growth

Last year, the domestic electronic financial industry (Jeongeum-eop) surpassed 10 trillion won in revenue for the first time.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on May 27, revenue from Jeongeum-eop reached 10.4 trillion won in 2024 (8.1 trillion won from payment gateway (PG) services and 1.7 trillion won from prepaid services, among others), marking an increase of 800 billion won (8.3%) compared to the previous year.

Jeongeum-eop includes electronic payment gateway services such as KakaoPay, TossPay, and NaverPay, as well as the issuance of prepaid electronic payment instruments such as rechargeable gift cards.

Last year, Jeongeum-eop revenue accounted for 15.4% of the total revenue (67.4 trillion won) of registered Jeongeum-eop companies. This is because registered Jeongeum-eop companies also operate in other sectors such as e-commerce and telecommunications. The gross profit of Jeongeum-eop last year was 3.3 trillion won, an increase of 100 billion won (3.1%) compared to 2023.

The number of registered Jeongeum-eop companies was 207, an increase of 19 companies (10.1%) compared to the end of the previous year. By business type, there were 162 PG companies, the largest number, followed by 92 prepaid electronic payment instrument issuers and 24 debit electronic payment instrument issuers (based on multiple registrations).

As of the end of last year, the combined balance of PG and prepaid services stood at 14.4 trillion won (9.9 trillion won for PG and 4.5 trillion won for prepaid), an increase of 1.6 trillion won (12.5%) compared to a year earlier.

The Financial Supervisory Service assessed that the number of registered Jeongeum-eop companies and their revenue continue to grow, exceeding 10 trillion won for the first time, due to the expansion of electronic payment transactions such as PG and prepaid services.

The agency also emphasized that it will continue to strengthen efforts to improve systems to protect users of electronic financial services, such as introducing external management guidelines for PG settlement funds and inspecting the management of prepaid funds, so that Jeongeum-eop can achieve sound and sustainable growth based on sound management and user trust.