Less paperwork, AI-powered banking: KakaoBank joins race for foreign customers
KakaoBank on Monday launched a range of financial services for international residents in Korea, joining local lenders in the race to attract customers from the country's growing foreign population. The new offering from the internet-only lender includes checking accounts, debit cards, overseas remittances and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered multilingual support. "Even though banking has…
KakaoBank has introduced a suite of financial services tailored for international residents living in Korea. This move marks the bank's entry into the competition to win over the expanding pool of foreign customers in the country. The new package from the internet-based bank includes traditional checking accounts, debit cards, and the ability to send money abroad. It also features a standout feature: artificial intelligence (AI) technology that enables multilingual customer support.
KakaoBank's head of the Foreign Customer Camp, Bae Jung-ho, highlighted during a press conference in Seoul how banking has become more convenient for domestic customers, yet foreign residents still face certain inconveniences. These challenges include the past experience of needing to visit physical bank branches to open an account. Bae noted that by providing international residents with the same application that their 28 million domestic customers use, KakaoBank managed to roll out over 50 services simultaneously.
KakaoBank's Foreign Resident Account is open to individuals aged 19 and above who possess a valid form of identification and a registered mobile phone. The application process can be completed in just five minutes via a mobile chatbot, as offered by the bank.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
