April 25, 2024

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South Korea’s internet banking service rose at a fast clip last year with the number of daily transactions, and total value, reaching record highs, central bank data showed on March 28.

The number of online-based banking service users came to a record 146.56 million as of end-2018, up 8.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. It is the sum of all registered users of 18 Internet and mobile banking service providers in the country.

The average number of daily transactions processed on computers and mobile gadgets came to 118.97 million in 2018, up 25.3 percent from the previous year.

The average amount of money processed through such means spiked 19.9 percent to 52.16 trillion won ($45.85 billion), according to the data.

In particular, the mobile banking showed marked growth last year.

The number of smartphone-based banking service users increased 16.7 percent on-year to 106.07 million, and the amount of daily transactions jumped 31.9 percent to 5.34 trillion won, the data showed.

Of the total internet banking transactions, 62.7 percent were made through mobile gadgets, though the mobile banking accounted for 10.2 percent of the total in terms of the transaction value.

Last year, internet banking was the most favored means of transactions by customers, accounting for 53.2 percent, up 7.7 percent from a year earlier.

Teller machines came next with 30.2 percent, followed by brick-and-mortar physical bank windows at 8.8 percent, and telebanking 7.9 percent, according to the data.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)