The Stock Investment Boom Drives Last Year's 'Mobile Trading' to an All-Time High... Surging 219.6%

Bank of Korea '2020 Financial Informatization Promotion Status'

Average Daily Transaction Amount 26.6581 Trillion KRW, Number of Transactions 116.26 Million

Financial Institutions' IT Workforce Surpasses 10,000 for the First Time... IT Workforce Ratio 4.5%

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Eunbyeol] Due to the stock investment boom continuing since last year, the usage of 'mobile trading' via smartphones reached an all-time high. Last year, the average daily mobile trading volume was 116.26 million transactions, with a transaction amount reaching 26.6581 trillion KRW.

According to the "2020 Financial Informatization Status" published by the Bank of Korea on the 6th, the average daily mobile trading amount at securities firms last year was 26.6581 trillion KRW, a sharp increase of 219.6% compared to 2019 (8.3423 trillion KRW). In just one year, the scale of stock trading using smartphones more than tripled on a daily average basis.

In terms of the number of transactions, last year's mobile trading averaged 116.26 million transactions per day, up 44.8% from the previous year (80.311 million transactions). Both the average daily number of transactions and transaction amount were the highest since the Bank of Korea began compiling related statistics in 2013. In particular, the annual growth rate of the transaction amount was the largest ever recorded.

With the COVID-19 pandemic and the expansion of non-face-to-face financial services, the average daily usage of internet banking (including mobile banking) at domestic banks (excluding Export-Import Bank) and postal financial services last year was 13.78 million transactions and 58.8011 trillion KRW, increasing by 13.2% and 20.7% respectively compared to the previous year.

As non-face-to-face financial transactions expanded, the IT workforce at financial institutions exceeded 10,000 for the first time. As of the end of 2020, the total IT workforce at 150 domestic financial companies was 10,265, a 3.9% increase from the previous year. While the total number of employees at financial institutions decreased by 3,046 from 228,767 to 225,721 during the same period, the IT workforce actually expanded. The proportion of IT personnel among total employees also rose from 4.3% to 4.5% year-on-year.

Among IT personnel, the growth rate of information security staff increased from 2.7% in 2019 to 5.8% in 2020. The number of IT outsourcing personnel at domestic financial companies was 14,075, up 2.7% from 13,704 the previous year. Among all responding institutions, 78.7% (118 institutions) had appointed and operated a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the executive level. Of these, 21.2% (25 institutions) had full-time CISOs. This indicates that financial institutions are focusing on investing in IT personnel.

However, the IT budget of domestic financial companies in 2020 was 6.9761 trillion KRW, a 2.7% decrease compared to the previous year. It appears that some banks reduced their spending last year after completing next-generation system construction in 2019.

As cash usage sharply declined, the number of CD/ATM installations in Korea also decreased. As of the end of last year, there were 117,623 units, down 1.5% (1,769 units) from the previous year. While CD/ATMs directly installed and operated by banks and other financial companies continued to decline, those operated in partnership with financial companies by VAN operators slightly increased by 0.3%.

Meanwhile, the Financial Informatization Promotion Council is a consultative body formed by the Bank of Korea and financial companies to create an efficient and systematic electronic financial transaction environment, and it publishes an annual report on the status of financial informatization promotion.

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