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| Toss Bank CEO Hong Min- taek speaks during a press conference held in central Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Toss Bank |
Internet bank announces nine-month achievement since launching
By Anna J. Park
Since Toss Bank was launched last October as the country's third internet-only bank, it has succeeded in attracting 3.6 million customers in just nine months. More than 2.5 million customers have been added this year alone, and the number of customers has tripled during the past six months.
The bank announced its upcoming plans to launch differentiated products to help customers make wiser investment decisions and receive more benefits.
"On average, it means that 13,600 people are joining Toss Bank per day," the bank's CEO Hong Min-taek said during a press conference held in central Seoul, Tuesday. "And 83.2 percent of those customers actually turned out to have put money into their accounts. Customers' high reliance on Toss Bank's innovative operation shows that digital banking is meeting the needs of financial customers."
The CEO of the mobile-based bank specified its customers are distributed evenly in terms of age groups, with those aged in their 20s accounting for 25.1 percent and 30s for 25.4 percent, while those in their 40s take up 23.8 percent and in their 50s and older accounting for 19.2 percent. The CEO explained that the even distribution among age groups shows that digital banking is utilized by people of various ages with ease.
The internet-only bank has also logged an impressive performance in providing loans, with accumulated loans surpassing 4 trillion won ($3.1 billion), as of June. 36 percent of the loans were lent to those with middle or low credit scores, with which the bank achieved its original pledge that at least 34.9 percent of its loans would be lent to those in the lower credit bracket groups.
"Toss Bank has developed its own credit-rating model called TSS (Toss Scoring System) to provide further loans to customers of medium or lower credit scores, who could not enjoy full entitlements so far. Under the new credit rating system's credit-building effects, one out of four customers has had their middle and lower credit scores reevaluated as high credit scores," Toss Bank CEO Hong stressed.
The CEO attributed the bank's innovative services, focusing on the needs of customers, as the source of the bank's exponential growth. The bank's innovative services include the free deposit and withdrawal account that gives out 2 percent interest a year, as well as its deposit products where customers can withdraw interest-accumulated money whenever they want.
The CEO also highlighted that the bank's online-exclusive and unsecured debt products, which are the first of their kind in the local internet banking industry, have already lent more than 530 billion won to customers, in just four months after launching.
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