SEOUL: South Koreans love their mobile devices. According to Digieco, a research center run by Korea’s KT Corp, smartphone penetration stands at 83%. According to the Korean Central Bank, mobile banking is on the rise as consumers, including the elderly, turn to their smartphones to do their mobile banking.
The Bank of Korea reported that in 2014, the average daily transactions processed via smartphones reached 31 million, up 32% from 2013. The central bank estimate that the daily average transaction value conducted over smartphones in 2014 reached 1.8 trillion won (US$1.6 billion), up29.7% compared to 2013 levels.
Shinhan Bank, South Korea’s first bank and the country’s second largest bank in terms of total assets, has launched the Sunny Bank mobile platform, designed to facilitate a fully digital mobile banking experience for its customers.
Sunny Bank is designed to offer nearly all banking services typically found with traditional banks including opening a bank account, foreign currency exchange, credit loans, overseas remittances, check accounts, transfer money, and withdraw from ATMs. Shinhan is extending the mobile banking experience to wearable devices by allowing customers to make payments using smart watches.
Customers can use their device’s mobile authentication system to conduct send money overseas without having to go to the bank. The Bank uses big data to estimate a mobile customer’s income for assessing mobile loan applications – a feature ideally suited to freelance workers.
Shinhan is not the only bank in Korea to capitalize on the growing online/mobile customer base. Woori Bank, the country’s largest bank, launched WiBee Bank in May 2016. A month later, the Industrial Bank of Korea also launched i-ONE Bank offering similar mobile banking services.
