KakaoBank is rolling out financial services for foreign residents in South Korea covering accounts, cards and overseas remittances as it moves to expand its foreign customer base. It will allow customers to open accounts on mobile without visiting a branch, with multilingual support and a dedicated verification system. Next year it plans to widen the service range to deposits and savings, open banking and loan comparison.

KakaoBank on Oct. 12 held a Foreigners Service Press Talk and unveiled services for foreigners including a foreigner account, a check card, overseas remittances and multilingual counselling.

The key is improving non-face-to-face access to financial services for foreign customers. The "foreigner account" is available to foreigners aged 19 or older of about 200 nationalities including China and Vietnam. If no additional screening is required, customers can open an account on mobile in about 5 minutes.

Required documents such as a certificate of employment, pay statement and certificate of residence can also be submitted in the app. By applying foreigner-only selfie verification and public MyData, it reduced steps to enter and confirm information such as name, nationality, address and occupation.

Balance certificates and transaction statements needed for visa extensions can also be issued in the app. Account balances can be checked not only in won but also converted into 9 currencies.

Fees for transfers and ATM deposits and withdrawals are waived without conditions, as for domestic customers. Foreign customers can also use the group account and the parking account "Safe Box", and up to 2 foreigner accounts can be opened per person.

Card services are also being expanded to the level offered to domestic customers. KakaoBank will issue a domestic-only "Friends Check Card" to foreign customers and provide the same cashback benefits as existing customers. It plans to additionally roll out a check card that can be used for overseas payments by year-end.

Customers can also apply for the "KakaoBank Ttakbut Shinhan Card" in collaboration with Shinhan Card, as well as an affiliated credit card for sole proprietors. It will also provide foreign customers with the "Compare Credit Card Benefits" service, which lets customers compare benefits across multiple cards before applying.

For overseas remittances, it supports about 200 countries and about 50 currencies through a partnership with Hanpass. Customers can remit after completing Hanpass sign-up within the KakaoBank app without moving to a separate app. Remittance fees to major countries including the United States and China are free.

When receiving remittances from overseas into a KakaoBank account, receiving fees are also waived for foreign customers without conditions. The service screens apply AI translation and support English, Chinese and Vietnamese, and it also offers one-to-one English counselling. KakaoBank plans to expand supported languages to 7 in 2027.

It also introduced management of foreigners' stay periods, dedicated facial authentication and abnormal transaction detection functions. It is also providing foreign customers with "AI smishing text message check" and the "identity theft prevention service" that existing domestic customers used.

KakaoBank plans to add deposits and savings, open banking and loan comparison services next year. Over the longer term, it plans to widen its customer scope beyond long-term foreign residents in South Korea to include foreign visitors and overseas Koreans, and to expand services across deposits, lending and payments.

Bae Jeong-ho (배정호), head of KakaoBank's Foreign Customer Camp, said the goal is to provide foreign customers with the same non-face-to-face banking services and benefits that domestic customers have used. He added that it will continue to expand its product portfolio.