Hana Bank will join hands with the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) to mount a joint response to prevent losses from smishing and other telecommunications-based financial fraud. It plans to strengthen consumer protection by introducing a service that allows users to check in real time whether a suspicious message is smishing on its mobile banking app.

Hana Bank said on Thursday it signed a business agreement with the Korea Internet & Security Agency on Wednesday at its headquarters in Euljiro, Jung-gu, Seoul, to prevent damage from smishing and other telecommunications-based financial fraud and to jointly respond.

According to Hana Bank, the number of smishing text messages detected for the public jumped about 80-fold in two years, to about 44.81 million in 2025 from about 500,000 in 2023.

Hana Bank has developed a real-time smishing check service in its mobile banking app, Hana 1Q, using the Korea Internet & Security Agency's data and API. It is the first time a bank has used the agency's related data and API.

The service works when a customer finds a suspicious text message on a smartphone and selects the Hana 1Q app through the message's share function. The system analyses the smishing risk and provides results on screen in real time in three levels: normal, caution and malicious.

Hana Bank expects the new service to improve customer convenience and security access, as it allows users to check whether a message is smishing without separately copying and pasting text.

Hana Bank CEO Lee Ho-seong (이호성) said, "To safely protect customers' valuable assets from increasingly sophisticated smishing crimes, proactive and technical joint responses that go beyond public and private sectors are essential." He added, "We will continue to do our best to prevent livelihood-related financial crime through practical financial consumer protection activities."