“International students can open an account in just five minutes”: KakaoBank’s Foreigners’ Account reaches 20,000 accounts in one month

[Financial News] KakaoBank Corp.’s Foreigners’ Account is attracting foreign customers with its simple sign-up process. Customers can open an account in about five minutes without visiting a branch, and within a month of its launch, customers from 124 nationalities had opened 20,000 accounts.
According to financial industry sources on the 12th, the number of accounts opened for KakaoBank Corp.’s Foreigners’ Account topped 20,000 just one month after its launch. That works out to an average of one account opened every two minutes.
At least 10,000 Friends debit cards, which can be used with the account, have also been issued. At least 1,000 Safe Box accounts, which let customers store extra funds and earn interest, have also been opened. The service was launched for about 2.2 million foreign residents who have lived in Korea long-term, and the bank is rapidly expanding its customer base.
The Foreigners’ Account is a transaction account that any foreign resident aged 19 or older can open. Customers can conveniently use a single KakaoBank app for everything from opening an account and getting a debit card to making international remittances.
The Foreigners’ Account’s main strength is convenience. Customers can easily open an account on their phones without visiting a branch, and public MyData services can automatically retrieve information such as their name, nationality, address and occupation. The sign-up process has also been streamlined by allowing customers to submit required documents—including proof of employment, pay slips and proof of residence—through the app.
By nationality, customers from Myanmar accounted for the largest share at 30.3%, followed by China at 18.0%, Vietnam at 16.6%, Thailand at 4.8%, Japan at 4.6% and Uzbekistan at 4.3%. Customers from countries with relatively small resident populations in Korea, such as the Republic of Fiji and the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, also signed up.
Four in 10 customers were international students. By purpose of stay in Korea, study was the most common at 37.8%, followed by employment and work at 26.3%, marriage migration at 12.7%, overseas Koreans at 9.2%, permanent residency at 7.1% and other purposes at 6.9%. Women accounted for 52% of customers.
The AI-powered multilingual translation service for foreign customers had 21,000 users. English was the most-used language at 61.3%, followed by Vietnamese at 23.7% and Chinese at 15.0%.
In addition to the fee-free transfers and ATM transactions, debit cards and international remittances it currently offers foreign customers, KakaoBank Corp. plans to introduce deposit and installment savings products, open banking and loan-comparison services next year. It also plans to expand the app’s language support to seven languages next year and, over the longer term, broaden its customer base to include foreign visitors to Korea and Korean nationals living abroad.
KakaoBank Corp. said, “We will continue to expand the scope of our financial services so that foreign customers can conveniently access the services they need in Korea through a single KakaoBank app.”
[email protected] Lee Hyeon-jeong Reporter