KakaoBank Surpasses 1 Million Transactions in Overseas Remittance Service Usage

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] Kakao Bank, a Korean Kakao Bank, announced on the 12th that the use of its overseas remittance service, launched with the start of operations in July 2017, has surpassed 1 million transactions.

The monthly average is 30,000 transactions, and 90% of them were used more than twice by the same customers, according to Kakao Bank.

Kakao Bank analyzed that "the low remittance cost and the convenience of completing all remittance procedures non-face-to-face through the Kakao Bank mobile application had a significant impact."

Kakao Bank offers 'Overseas Account Remittance' available in 12 currencies across 22 countries worldwide, and through collaboration with Western Union, the world's largest remittance payment network company, it provides the 'WU Fast Overseas Remittance' service that allows remittance to over 200 countries 24/7, 365 days a year within one minute.

The number of overseas remittance transactions at Kakao Bank has been increasing about twofold every year. It rose from a monthly average of 12,000 transactions in 2017 to 25,000 in 2018, and recorded a monthly average of 41,000 transactions last year when WU Fast Overseas Remittance was launched.

Small remittances under $5,000 accounted for 95% of the total. The cost of Kakao Bank's overseas account remittance is 5,000 KRW for amounts under $5,000 (excluding some countries), and WU Fast Overseas Remittance costs $6 ($12 for amounts exceeding $3,000).

The reuse rate of overseas remittance customers was estimated to be over 90%. The reuse rate for overseas account remittance is 95%.

By remittance region, the United States, Germany, and Canada accounted for a high proportion of overseas account remittances. Using the 'Load Existing Transaction Information' feature of overseas account remittance eliminates the need to re-enter necessary information such as bank codes.

In the Asian region, the usage rate of WU Fast Overseas Remittance was high. The regional differences seem to be related to the bank account ownership rates of citizens in each country. WU Fast Overseas Remittance enables real-time overseas remittance even without the recipient's account.

Lee Hyung-joo, head of the product department at Kakao Bank, said, "The overseas remittance market is rapidly growing recently, and usage patterns are also diversifying," adding, "We will continue to introduce differentiated services so that Kakao Bank customers can use them more easily and frequently in their daily lives."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.