Electronic Financial Services Revenue Surpasses 12 Trillion Won Last Year... Number of Non-Compliant Companies Rises to 29

Financial Supervisory Service Releases 2025 Business Performance Report for Electronic Financial Services Industry

As mobile-centric digital financial transactions rapidly expand, revenue from the electronic financial services industry increased by more than 15% last year. The number of registered companies also grew by 16% year-over-year, continuing the growth trend. However, despite strengthened oversight and supervision of electronic financial service providers following the "TMAP incident," the number of companies failing to comply with management guidance standards has increased.

According to the "2025 Business Performance of Electronic Financial Services Industry" announced by the Financial Supervisory Service on May 17, 2026, revenue from electronic financial services last year reached 12 trillion won, up 15.4% (1.6 trillion won) from the previous year. Electronic financial services revenue surpassed the 10 trillion won mark for the first time in 2024 and continued its upward trajectory.

By sector, payment gateway (PG) services accounted for the largest share at 9 trillion won, while issuers and managers of prepaid electronic payment instruments recorded a market size of 2.2 trillion won.

Gross profit totaled 3.6 trillion won, an increase of 9.1% (300 billion won) compared to the previous year. Among this, PG services maintained the same level as the previous year at 2.1 trillion won, but the gross profit from issuers and managers of prepaid electronic payment instruments surged by 27.3% to 1.4 trillion won.

The number of registered electronic financial service companies stood at 241 at the end of last year, up by 34 companies (16.4%) from 207 at the end of the previous year. By sector, there were 190 PG companies, the largest group. The number of issuers and managers of prepaid electronic payment instruments was 120, debit electronic payment instrument issuers and managers 35, payment deposit management companies 48, and electronic billing and payment companies 18.

However, the number of electronic financial service providers failing to comply with management guidance standards was 29 as of the end of last year, up by one compared to 28 at the end of the previous year. Most of these were small-scale companies, with an average revenue of 4.1 billion won, significantly below the overall average of 54.7 billion won. The proportion of PG and prepaid balance within these companies was only 0.5% and 8.5%, respectively, of the total. Notably, 21 of the non-compliant companies had already failed to meet the standards due to deteriorating business conditions.

The Financial Supervisory Service plans to further strengthen user protection measures. An official from the Financial Supervisory Service stated, "Prepaid balances of electronic financial service providers, including non-compliant companies, are managed separately in accordance with the Electronic Financial Transactions Act," and added, "From this year, settlement funds for PG merchants will also be subject to external management systems, further reinforcing user protection measures."

Additionally, the Financial Supervisory Service is working to improve the regulatory framework, including establishing detailed disclosure standards for electronic financial service providers. The agency plans to prepare detailed management disclosure standards, scheduled to take effect in December, and aims to establish sound management practices across the industry through the "rectification request right." This right allows financial authorities to demand corrective action from companies that fail to comply with management guidance standards due to reasons such as capital erosion. Failure to comply may result in sanctions such as business suspension or license revocation.

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