SEOUL: The number of South Korean subscribers to smartphone-based m-banking services exceeded 60 million in the third quarter, Yonhap news agency reports, citing data released by the country’s Central Bank. According to data compiled by the Bank of Korea (BOK), smartphone banking users of 16 local commercial banks and the Korea Post reached 60.08 million at end-September, which represents an increase of 4.4 percent from 57.52 million at the end of May.
The number of smartphone banking clients increased from 37 million in 2013 to 40 million in the first quarter of 2014 and 50 million in the first quarter of 2015. The total mobile banking subscribers grew by 3.6 percent quarter-on-quarter to 71.88 million at 30 September, accounting for 62.3 percent of South Korea’s total internet banking customer base which currently stands at 115.29 million, including those who access banking through personal computers.
The amount of daily transactions processed via smartphone averaged KRW 2.5 trillion (approximately USD 2.1 billion) in the July-September period, up 4.5 percent in the third quarter.
However, the report also shows that South Korean customers are still reluctant to processing major transactions via their smartphones. While mobile banking accounted for 54.6 percent of all internet banking transaction volume, the amount processed via mobile platforms covered only 6.3 percent of the total.
