[Financial Insider] "Can't You Pay Interest Daily?" "I Save and Set the Table with Gulbi"

'2% Account' Earning Interest with Just a Button Click
'Gulbi Savings' Reflecting Youth Frugality Spirit
Interview with Toss Bank Designers Heo Soim & Song Yesul

Soim Heo (left) and Yesul Song (right), deposit product designers at Toss Bank. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

"Why bother with savings and installment savings? Isn't it enough if the interest rate on a checking account is high? Can't interest just be given every day?"
(Huh So-im, Deposit Product Designer at Toss Bank)

This is the background story behind Toss Bank's 2% interest checking account. It has been 1 year and 4 months since the product was launched. So far, the cumulative number of users has reached 3.67 million, and the total interest paid out to customers amounts to 353.5 billion KRW. About 2.5 million customers currently press the 'Receive Interest' button daily. Based on the last 30 days, each user received approximately 1,500 KRW in interest. At the time of launch, other banks criticized the high interest rate, saying "Toss will soon discontinue the 2% account," but now those banks have copied and are selling this product themselves.

"Bank products are complicated. Toss Bank’s philosophy is to ask what the essential, simple thing customers really need is. After stripping everything down, the conclusion was to give a high interest rate on checking accounts." The biggest challenge in creating the product was that it was unprecedented, so it took three months for the financial authorities to review and approve it.

Designer Huh said, "We looked for a way to launch quickly without violating regulations. It was to have customers press the 'Receive Interest Now' button directly in the app. This turned out to be more effective in building loyal customers than automatically accumulating interest daily."

He described the 'Receive Interest Now' feature as "handing over the sovereignty of interest to the customers." The 'Receive Interest Early Time Deposit' product launched in April this year follows the same principle. "Paying interest on the maturity date is a bank-centered practice. Isn’t that unfair? If interest is given immediately upon subscription, it benefits customers."

"Since the younger generation is struggling, a 'beggar chatroom' where people scold each other for spending money became popular. It reminded me of a frugal person, so I wanted to create a product with the concept of 'Try saving this much today.' The image of dried yellow corvina fish (gulbi) was perfect."
(Song Ye-seul, Deposit Product Designer at Toss Bank)

Gulbi Installment Savings demonstrated that even bothersome savings and installment savings can be fun and feel like a game. Customers can deposit as much as they want up to a monthly limit of 300,000 KRW and still receive an annual interest rate of 5%. Even if the deposit amount decreases, the interest rate remains 5%. Each time money is deposited, a gulbi fish descends from the ceiling, and the side dishes on the table increase one by one. The 'Grow Your Savings' product, where the animals you raise grow bigger with each deposit, is a similar type of product.

Designer Song said, "Since installment savings have a short period, we can add fun elements. Thanks to the enjoyment of raising animals and increasing side dishes, many young female customers in their 20s and 30s are attracted to it." Gulbi Installment Savings surpassed 600,000 cumulative accounts within just three months of launch.

The sensibility of a genuine MZ (Millennial + Gen Z) newcomer who has been with the company less than a year also created a frugal chatroom inside the Gulbi Installment Savings. "If you skip one coffee a day, you can save 1,500 KRW; if you skip three, 4,500 KRW. Should I have coffee or not?" "It's gloomy because of the rain; is it okay to buy clothes?" When young users post their modest worries, others can vote for or against, making it popular. Designer Song’s dream is "to create a value that no other bank offers, where customers save money while communicating with peers of similar age."

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