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| Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun speaks during a press conference held at Conrad Seoul Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul's financial district, Monday. Courtesy of Kakao Pay |
Mobile payment available in 11 overseas countries
By Anna J. Park
Kakao Pay, the mobile payment subsidiary of tech conglomerate Kakao, has proclaimed its goal to achieve 10 billion transactions per year within the next three years, and step up as the country's most frequently used financial application platform that caters to customers' financial needs.
During a press conference held at Conrad Seoul Hotel, Monday, Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun highlighted that the mobile payment firm is aiming to create a close-knit financial ecosystem centering on Kakao Pay's platform.
"The targeted number of aggregated transactions of 10 billion per year would mean that every Korean over the age of 15 would use Kakao Pay at least once every day to solve their various financial needs," Shin said during the press conference.
As of last year, the annual number of app users stood at 30 million, with an annual transactional amount of 118 trillion won ($88.1 billion). The aggregate number of annual transactions exceeded 3.2 billion that year.
Based on the massive amount of big data accumulated from customers' payment records as well as top-notch artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the head of the firm vowed to develop the mobile payment application into a more sophisticated and personalized financial platform that offers solutions to customers' various needs.
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| Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun speaks during a press conference held at Conrad Seoul Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul's financial district, Monday. Yonhap |
The company's accelerated growth as a global payment service will be one of the main pillars of the firm's future strategic direction. Currently, Kakao Pay is either available or under pilot program operation in a total of 11 countries. In Japan, China, Macao, Singapore and France, Kakao Pay is seeking to increase the number of affiliated stores where the mobile app can be used directly. The mobile payment firm is also testing its usability with pilot programs in Italy, Germany, the U.K., Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
In addition, the Korean mobile payment firm is working on strengthening partnerships with overseas payment businesses in key Asian countries. Kakao Pay has been mutually linking services of China's Alipay, Hong Kong's AlipayHK, the Philippines' Gcash, Malaysia's Touch 'n Go, Thailand's Truemoney, Singapore's Ezlink, Japan's Paypay, Vietnam's ZaloPay and Indonesia's Dana so that customers of these payment services can still use them at Kakao Pay's affiliated stores in Korea.
"Since Kakao Pay started its overseas payment business in Japan in 2019, the firm has continued its global expansion. As inbound tourists from these nine countries account for some 80 percent of the entire number of annual foreign visitors to Korea, Kakao Pay's strengthened partnership with these representative payment services of each of the countries will also contribute to local affiliated stores' earnings," Shin said.
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| Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun speaks during a press conference held at Conrad Seoul Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap |
The company also plans to strengthen its competitiveness in the areas of investment, loans and insurance. Kakao Pay Securities, a brokerage subsidiary of the fintech payment firm, has posted solid growth in its number of transactions and market share.
The brokerage affiliate of Kakao Pay acquired a significant stake in Siebert Financial Corporation, a U.S.-headquartered brokerage and advisory firm, early this year. The company boasted that it can offer the lowest fees on trading overseas stocks among Korean brokerage companies, while planning to strengthen overseas strategic business expansion in the U.S. as well.
With regard to Kakao Pay Insurance, the non-life insurance subsidiary of the fintech company, Shin said he plans to innovate the whole processes of insurance with its service.
"We aim to shift widely accepted paradigm of insurance with our service. Insurance plans by Kakao Pay Insurance are differentiated from other firms' products as it innovates existing insurance plans. For instance, users can make their own insurance plans by selecting specific areas of coverage and premiums, while some plans give users a discount when a group of people applies them together. There are many other new attempts like this to offer new insurance experiences for customers," he said.
Regarding questions about a recent market rumor involving Kyoto Life's potential acquisition of Kakao Pay Insurance, the chief of the firm said while the insurance affiliate is examining various options for its further growth, including external strategic partners and investments, it is not considering selling any of its stakes or management right.
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