Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Kakao Bank gears up for IPO
Kakao Bank CEO Yun Ho-young speaks during an online press conference at the internet lender's office in Seoul, Monday. / Courtesy of Kakao Bank
By Kim Bo-eun
Internet lender launches series of credit cards
By Kim Bo-eun
Kakao Bank's chief said Monday it will begin administrative preparations for an IPO in the latter half of this year.
"In order for Kakao Bank's sustainable growth, we need more capital investments, and we will seek to go public to keep to regulations as we see a growth in assets," CEO Yun Ho-young said in a press conference, which was held online amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We plan to begin administrative preparations for an IPO in the second half of the year," he said.
The CEO did not provide a timeline for the planned IPO, citing variables including market circumstances.
His remarks on the highly anticipated IPO comes after the internet bank posted its first annual surplus last year, and secured over 10 million users in two years since its launch in July 2017. Its assets came to 22.7 trillion won as of 2019.
Yet the lender's assets and net profit still fall largely short of those of major commercial banks.
Kakao Bank, which launched with 300 employees, has grown into an organization employing 800. Yun said the divisions of the lender have been reorganized into two teams, one focusing on designing the mobile application and the other focusing on the lender's business.
The CEO also introduced a series of credit cards launched in partnership with card firms as part of the expansion of its financial platform business.
Four cards were launched in partnership with card firms Shinhan, Samsung, KB, and Citibank. Kakao Bank is in charge of attracting customers and the card firms manage the issuing process. Applications for the cards opened Monday on Kakao Bank's app.
The bank is expecting to generate profit by attracting customers to sign up for the cards, and utilize data to provide customized services.
Kakao Bank began services to expand its platform business last year, including a service through which users can sign up for brokerage accounts of securities firms as well as loans from savings banks, capital firms and card companies.
In addition, the CEO unveiled Kakao Bank's upgraded mobile application, stating it has "evolved into a more convenient and customer-centered app."
Yun referred to Kakao Bank's research center that is set to open next year, after receiving approval from the Financial Services Commission earlier this month.
"The research center will develop technology that is optimized for the mobile financial services, and test these technologies," he said.
The CEO stated Kakao Bank will collaborate more with other Kakao units this year, including Kakao Pay.
"We are preparing to simplify the process of connecting the accounts of Kakao Pay and Kakao Bank," he said.
"This will become the starting point to lower the walls between Kakao units and boost connectivity."
Kakao Bank is one of two internet-only lenders here, the other being K bank. Financial services platform Toss is readying to launch Korea's third internet bank. Kakao Bank has widened the gap with K bank, as the latter has been unable to increase its capital base due to regulations.