Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
KakaoBank draws over 20 mil. users after opening in 2017
The headquarters of KakaoBank in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province / Newsis
By Anna J. Park
By Anna J. Park
KakaoBank has drawn over 20 million users since its launch in July 2017, which is nearly 40 percent of the entire 51 million population of Korea.
According to the internet-only bank Wednesday, the number of the digital bank's users has grown exponentially every year during the past five years. The bank's user number in December 2017, the first year when it was officially launched, stood at 4.9 million. The number grew to 7.94 million in 2018, 12.4 million in 2019, 15.4 million in 2020 and 17.9 million in 2021. The number finally reached the milestone of 20 million on Nov. 8, which is 1,931 days after the bank began operations.
The bank explained that most of the users in the early phase were in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Customers between 20 to 49 years of age constituted nearly 90 percent of total users during the first couple of years following the bank's opening.
But the bank continued to expand its reach to other age groups from 2020. A payment service available for people aged 14 to 18 began in October of that year. As result, 70 percent of the customers who joined KakaoBank during their teenage years ended up opening up accounts at the digital bank when they reached 19 and 20.
Customers in their 50s also make up another major portion of the bank's new customers. People in their 50s constitute 32 percent of new customers this year, followed by teens and those in their 40s at 19 percent, respectively. People in their 20s account for 17 percent of new customers this year and people in their 30s account for 13 percent.
The bank commemorated the milestone achievement of attracting 20 million users by planting 2,000 evergreen spindle trees in a park located on Yeouido, Seoul's financial district, early this month.
“As KakaoBank has now grown into a bank for everyone, the company plans to provide more customer benefits while assuming social responsibilities,” an official at KakaoBank said.