Withdraw Money with QR Codes This Year-End... "ATM to Be Replaced by High-Function Automated Machines"

The Bank of Korea, Seminar on 'The Development Direction and Future Challenges of Digital Finance'

By the end of this year, an ATM deposit and withdrawal service using QR codes will be introduced, enabling deposit and withdrawal services across all banks regardless of phone model or transaction bank.

On the afternoon of the 31st, Lee Han-nyung, Director of the Financial Settlement Bureau at the Bank of Korea, stated at the seminar "Directions for the Development of Digital Finance and Future Tasks" held at the Bank of Korea auditorium, "We are developing a QR code-based ATM deposit and withdrawal service system centered on the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute (KFTC), aiming for application across all banks' ATMs by the end of the year."

Kim Young-wook, a team leader at KFTC who presented that day, explained the standards and system development cases for the QR code-based ATM deposit and withdrawal service, which is scheduled to open in December this year, and presented the potential and development directions for QR code utilization in financial services. Team Leader Kim emphasized, "Cash deposits and withdrawals will be possible at all banks' ATMs without restrictions on smartphone models or transaction banks, greatly improving financial convenience for the public."

During the subsequent discussion session, it was forecasted that QR code-based financial services will increase in line with the decreasing frequency of cash usage. Kim Tae-hoon, manager at KakaoBank, said, "ATMs will gradually be replaced by high-function automated machines (STMs) that provide more banking services including teller services, not just simple deposits and withdrawals," and predicted, "The role of smartphones will expand as various offline financial service media beyond cash deposits and withdrawals, increasing the use of QR codes and Near Field Communication (NFC)."

Lee Jae-sung, deputy general manager at BC Card, analyzed, "In ASEAN countries, QR code-based payment infrastructure is rapidly spreading thanks to the development and introduction of national standard QR codes led by central banks," and added, "Linking QR payment networks with the ASEAN economic zone could be a new market acquisition and business expansion strategy."

Furthermore, in the future financial sector, it is predicted that generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology will be widely used in loan decision management, financial product recommendations, and financial forecasting, accelerating digital innovation.

Oh Soon-young, head of the Financial AI Center at KB Kookmin Bank, said, "A hybrid use of various generative AI models and the era of AI agent bots are expected to arrive," and added, "Securing proprietary data is important in utilizing generative AI technology."

Oh also added, "It is necessary to establish AI governance to ensure ethical and responsible use of generative AI in response to issues such as the reliability and explainability of generated answers due to vast data and model complexity, fake news, harmful and illegal content generation, ethical and legal issues, and data monopolization."

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