Kakao Bank goes into full-fledged service later this month as the second internet-only bank in Korea, claiming to be unrivalled in simple and easy mobile banking service based on the largest messaging platform used by Koreans across the world.

“We are confident of creating a bigger splash than K-Bank,” said co-heads Yun Ho-young and Lee Yong-woo in an interview with Maeil Business Newspaper.

Like K-Bank that had the head start and began operation in April, the second play also would be offering banking services and rates in more favorable terms than typical brick-and-mortar banks. Its distinctive feature is transfer of money, they said.

Fees for offshore transfer would be just one tenth charged by existing players as the online bank is directly partnered up with major international banks instead of going through the secondary SWIFT payment network for international transfers.

“Money transfer is available in almost all countries, including Europe and the U.S. Fees have been sharply cut for the senders, while the receivers do not have to pay a cent to withdraw the money. The transfer takes just 30 seconds,” they explained.

For local residents, money transfer is even easier. Kakao subscribers will be able to send money as simply as messaging without going through a separate authentication procedure. More than one out of five Koreans is subscribed to the messaging platform.

The new online bank enters the market three months later than K-Bank which exceeded full-year target of 1 trillion won ($870 million) in deposits and loans in just 70 days of service.

By Chung Ji-sung

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]