KakaoBank is joining hands with the Seoul city government to expand financial education for teenagers. It will link lessons from everyday finance basics to preventing financial fraud and a finance idea contest to support teenagers' economic independence and strengthen their financial capabilities.

KakaoBank said on June 1 it signed a business agreement with Seoul on May 26 to help teenagers develop sound economic values and strengthen their financial capabilities.

Under the agreement, Seoul will run an "Economy and Finance Academy" from May to September for about 360 teenagers at 21 municipal youth centers. It is designed to help teenagers learn basic finance needed in daily life, including saving, investing and spending.

The education will include theory classes using teaching materials produced to reflect KakaoBank financial service use cases. It will also include hands-on practice classes using Nexon Korea's coding platform, HelloMaple.

Support for financially vulnerable teenagers will also be provided. Starting in July, Seoul will offer education to prevent financial fraud such as voice phishing and illegal loans for teenagers at 19 youth shelters and self-reliance support centers. It also plans to run one-on-one financial mentoring to help with financial diagnosis and improving spending habits to support teenagers' economic independence.

A youth finance idea contest called Bankerthon will also be held in November. It will select and award outstanding ideas on topics such as future financial services, solving youth financial issues and preventing financial fraud.

KakaoBank will also improve teenagers' access to information through its app. From the 15th, users will be able to check youth experience programs and career and academic pathway information in the "Find youth experience and career information" menu under the KakaoBank All tab.

A KakaoBank official said, "We will help teenagers learn financial knowledge needed for everyday life and develop independent financial habits." The official added, "We will continue support for the healthy growth of future generations."