5th Anniversary of K-Bank Launch... Surpasses 7.5 Million Customers

5 Million Customers Added Last Year
Advantages of Low Interest Rates and Simplified Loan Procedures
5th Anniversary Interest Waiver and Prize Giveaway

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] K-Bank, Korea's first internet-only bank, has celebrated its fifth anniversary. It has surpassed 7.5 million customers and successfully turned a profit for the first time last year, signaling steady progress.

On the 6th, K-Bank announced that since its launch in April 2017, it surpassed 7.5 million account holders as of the end of last month, five years later. Since resuming loans in July 2020, the number of customers increased by 4.98 million last year alone, averaging one new customer every six seconds. From 2017, the annual average deposits grew by 2.31 trillion KRW and loans by 1.56 trillion KRW, reaching 11.54 trillion KRW in deposits and 7.81 trillion KRW in loans as of the end of last month. The booming cryptocurrency market last year and the fact that K-Bank is the only bank partnered with Upbit, Korea's largest virtual asset exchange, issuing real-name accounts, played a key role.

First Profit Turnaround Last Year...Simplified Loan Procedures and Low Interest Rates

Last year, K-Bank recorded a net profit of 22.5 billion KRW, achieving an annual profit turnaround for the first time. Interest income, which was 13.4 billion KRW in 2017, increased nearly 15-fold to 198 billion KRW last year. Non-interest income, which was a loss of 8.6 billion KRW in 2017, turned positive to 19.6 billion KRW last year.

The fact that all products, including savings deposits, jeonse loans, and apartment mortgage loans, are implemented 100% non-face-to-face was a major factor. The non-face-to-face apartment mortgage loan, launched in August 2020 as the first in the banking sector, introduced electronic repayment authorization, simplifying the required documents from about ten to two. Due to convenient loan procedures and industry-low interest rates, 1 trillion KRW was accumulated within a year of launch. The jeonse loan introduced in August last year exceeded 600 billion KRW within six months.

Pioneering Loan Areas for Low-to-Medium Credit Borrowers and Thin Filers

Through the advancement of its proprietary credit scoring system (CSS), K-Bank expanded loan areas for low-to-medium credit borrowers and 'thin filers' with insufficient financial information. For low-to-medium credit borrowers, about 2.5 trillion KRW in loans were executed over five years until last month. As of the end of last month, the share of low-to-medium credit loans exceeded 20%. Last year, K-Bank's average mid-interest rate was 5.98%, only about 40% of the average savings bank rate of 14.96%. Since its launch until last year, approximately 300 billion KRW in loans were refinanced to K-Bank, resulting in an estimated cumulative interest burden reduction of about 40 billion KRW.

The threshold for thin filer loans was also lowered. By developing a customized CSS that utilizes telecommunication data such as carrier plans and installment payments, as well as shopping data from department stores and marts, K-Bank was able to accept customers who had repayment ability but were previously unable to get loans due to lack of financial history. Recently, with the introduction of the customized CSS, the loan approval rate for thin filer customers increased by about 31.5%.

Interest Waivers and Various Prizes Offered to Celebrate 5th Anniversary

Meanwhile, to celebrate its 5th anniversary, K-Bank is holding various events. First, among customers newly subscribing to three loan products?'Credit Loan,' 'Credit Loan Plus,' and 'Overdraft Loan'?five will be selected by lottery to have their loan interest fully refunded for one year. The draw will be held on the 3rd of next month, and winners must maintain their subscription status until the interest payment date of the third month.

Also, among customers who check their credit scores this month, 5,000 will be selected by lottery to receive a Starbucks Americano mobile gift card. Customers are automatically entered by selecting 'I will participate now' on the event page and checking their credit score.

Customers who make their first payment using K-Bank's card 'Plus Check Card' via Pay service will receive 3,000 KRW cashback. Entry is automatic upon pressing the 'Participate' button on the event page and making the first payment.

Suh Hoseong, CEO of K-Bank, said, "Since our launch, K-Bank has led 100% non-face-to-face financial innovation, and we will continue to introduce savings and deposit products and 100% non-face-to-face loan products that combine fun and benefits. At the same time, through investment services across various asset classes and partnerships with leading companies in each industry, we will take another leap forward as a digital financial platform."

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