▶주메뉴 바로가기

▶본문 바로가기

The Korea Herald
검색폼

THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

Finance

Kakao Bank logs rapid growth in 1st year

  • PUBLISHED :July 23, 2018 - 10:42
  • UPDATED :July 23, 2018 - 10:42
  • 폰트작게
  • 폰트크게
  • facebook
  • sms
  • print

[THE INVESTOR] Kakao Bank, Korea’s second internet-only bank, has posted rapid growth in its customer base and assets since its launch a year ago to overtake the country‘s smallest regional lender, data showed on July 23.

Kakao Bank, controlled by Kakao, the operator of Korea’s dominant messaging app KakaoTalk, started operations on July 27 last year, quickly gaining popularity among local mobile-savvy customers.

According to the data from Kakao Bank, the number of its clients stood at 6.28 million as of July 15, accounting for 22.3 percent of Korea’s labor force tallied at 28.16 million.

Kakao Bank instantly became the talk of the town by attracting 187,000 customers on the launch date alone, with the number growing to 3.29 million about a month later. Since then, it has lured an average of 289,000 new users per month.

The lender has also seen its assets grow rapidly over the past year, outstripping those of Jeju Bank, the smallest regional bank headquartered on the country’s southernmost resort island of Jeju.

As of end-March, Kakao Bank’s assets came to 7.92 trillion won (US$6.98 billion), larger than Jeju Bank’s 5.69 trillion won and trailing 17.53 trillion won of Jeonbuk Bank based in Jeonju, about 250 kilometers south of Seoul.

  Kakao Bank’s deposits totaled 8.52 trillion won as of July 15, up 71 percent from the end of last year, with its outstanding loans jumping 50.2 percent to 6.94 trillion won.

The lender’s net loss narrowed to 5.3 billion won in the first quarter of this year from 37.6 billion won three months earlier.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)

EDITOR'S PICKS