South Korea is all set to establish an online only bank. The new bank, K-Bank, will not only be the country’s first exclusively digital financial institution, it will also be the first new bank to open in South Korea in 24 years. Along with K-Bank, there could be other similar ventures too during 2017 with Kakao Corp., which owns South Korea’s dominant messaging app, Kakao Talk, securing preliminary approval to open an online bank. Consumers will be able to open a K-Bank account using a smartphone or other mobile device. Clients will then be able to transfer money and apply for a loan using mobile devices. The shareholders in K- Bank would be telecom company KT Corp and GS Retail, an arm of the vast GS conglomerate, as will Woori Bank and Hanwha Life Insurance.
