Hanpass, an overseas remittance platform for foreigners, is pushing for a KOSDAQ listing. Hanpass plans to use funds raised through the listing to expand overseas and upgrade its services. As stock market uncertainty linked to the Middle East grows, attention is focused on whether the offering will be a success.

According to the industry on March 9, Hanpass received preliminary listing review approval from the Korea Exchange last month for its initial public offering (IPO). It is set to determine the offering price after institutional bookbuilding from March 6 to 12.

Hanpass is a mobile overseas remittance platform whose main customers are foreigners living in South Korea. Its strength is a lower fee structure than banks. Beyond remittances, it is expanding its business into a "super app" for foreigners by combining prepaid cards, wallet functions and daily life convenience services. It is also conducting on-site sales based on about 1,100 offline locations nationwide.

It has also recently accelerated service expansion. Hanpass is preparing to launch a new application in the first half of this year for foreigners visiting South Korea. The service will be launched as a finance and lifestyle service channel for tourists and short-term foreign residents visiting South Korea, with April to May seen as the likely launch window.

It also newly opened a loan comparison service for foreigners. A Hanpass official said, "This service for foreigners is the first of its kind in the industry." The official explained that it is encouraging interest rate competition in the foreigner loan market by comparing products from a range of financial firms, including banks, savings banks and online investment-linked finance firms.

Loans for foreigners currently often have limited options, but it said it has improved accessibility by building a structure that lets users compare products from multiple financial firms at once.

Steep growth rate, with steady new inflows

Results are also growing rapidly. Revenue increased to 29.01 billion won in 2023 from 21.03 billion won in 2022, and it posted 55.3 billion won in 2024. The increase from 2023 was about 26.29 billion won, and the growth rate was about 90.61 percent. The company said the sharp rise in 2024 revenue includes the effect of a change in accounting policy that recognises foreign exchange gains as a gross amount, and that excluding that, the real revenue growth rate was about 60.43 percent.

Operating profit has also expanded, recording 2.12 billion won in 2023 and 5.18 billion won in 2024 after turning profitable at 760 million won in 2022. The increase in 2024 was 3.06 billion won, and the growth rate was about 143.53 percent. Operating margin also rose to 7.33 percent in 2023 and 9.84 percent in 2024 from 3.64 percent in 2022, and improved to 12.45 percent as of the third quarter of 2025.

As of the third quarter of 2025, the revenue mix consists of remittance fees at 33.7 percent, foreign currency transaction income at 25.0 percent, card fees at 2.1 percent and other fees at 39.2 percent.

By customer nationality, China is the highest at 35.2 percent, followed by Vietnam, the United States, Thailand and Uzbekistan. It is expanding sales around industrial complexes in areas with dense concentrations of foreign workers, such as Hwaseong and Gimpo in Gyeonggi province, Gimhae in South Gyeongsang province, and Pocheon in Gyeonggi province.

The company said foreign workers often share the service with co-workers or acquaintances, creating a structure in which new sign-ups occur steadily even without separate large-scale advertising.

Overseas expansion in earnest; targeting global markets with IPO proceeds

The company plans to use funds raised through the offering for infrastructure building at its subsidiaries in Japan and Australia, and for acquisition funding for other corporations such as strategic investments. It said it considers the current timing, after securing a firm position in the domestic remittance market, as an appropriate moment for a global leap and will actively target overseas markets.

Specifically, it includes diversifying revenue sources by building local infrastructure and strengthening marketing for its Japan and Australia entities, and pursuing acquisitions and strategic partnerships with related companies to build a total life platform for foreigners.

It plans to invest about 4.0 billion won in the Japan entity from 2026 to 2027 to expand the market. It will allocate about 1.5 billion won to the Australia entity to target markets centred on international students and Korean residents. It also plans to spend about 1.0 billion won to expand a direct linkage system with local banks and an ATM network to improve access to remittance services.

It also plans to use about 6.46 billion won as operating funds to launch new services and secure an initial market foothold. The company aims to grow into a platform covering finance and lifestyle services for foreigners by expanding new business models such as commerce and services related to foreigners visiting South Korea, based on existing remittance service users.

However, the industry points to domestic and external conditions surrounding the business sector as variables in the operating environment, and some cautious views have emerged on growth potential after listing. This is because a variety of conditions, including exchange rate volatility, can affect profitability given the nature of overseas remittance services.

As large big tech companies such as Toss move to expand overseas remittance services, the possibility of intensifying competition has also been raised. An analysis says big tech firms with platform-based customer access and payment ecosystems could enter the market in earnest and quickly change the competitive environment for existing fintech companies. Geopolitical risks are also cited as business risk factors, including the possibility that remittances to certain countries could be restricted.

A Hanpass official said it secures profit through a spread structure that adds a certain margin to exchange rates during the remittance process, and maintains a spread of about 0.3 percent. The official said the "pre-funding" method, in which foreign currency is secured in advance for remittances, can lead to temporary gains or losses depending on exchange rate fluctuations, but the impact is not expected to be significant. The official added that it is sufficiently competitive regarding big tech companies' entry into overseas remittances.

An industry official said the overseas remittance market is a field with high growth potential due to an increase in foreign workers and expanded global movement of people, and could receive a good evaluation at listing. The official also said exchange rate volatility and whether big tech companies expand the market could act as important variables affecting future business competitiveness.