Travel Wallet, which is pushing for a Kosdaq listing in 2027, faces the task of further shoring up equity in line with rapidly rising prepaid balances. Financial authorities demanded that Travel Wallet increase capital and improve profitability by changing its business structure. The company says it can meet the management improvement standards within the deadline and that there will be no change to its existing IPO schedule.

The Financial Services Commission held its 14th regular meeting on July 31 and demanded management improvement measures from 10 electronic financial service providers, including Travel Wallet, that did not meet management guidance standards as of end-December 2025, the financial sector said on Thursday.

The measures are the first management improvement demand activated under the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, revised and implemented in December last year following the TMON and WeMakePrice settlement delays. Before the revision, financial authorities had no administrative tools to directly demand capital strengthening from electronic financial service providers even if their management conditions deteriorated. The revision introduced a system to demand measures from firms that fail to meet management guidance standards.

◆ Capital ratio falls short as prepaid balances rise

The FSC demanded that Travel Wallet increase capital and improve profitability through changes to its business structure. Among the 10 electronic financial service providers subject to the measures, Travel Wallet is the only one asked to improve business structure and profitability as well as strengthen capital.

Travel Wallet failed to meet the equity ratio requirement relative to the outstanding unpaid balance of prepaid funds. Issuers and managers of prepaid electronic payment instruments must maintain equity of at least 20 percent of the amount customers have topped up but not yet used.

Travel Wallet said that foreign-currency prepaid balances rose quickly due to growing user numbers and exchange-rate fluctuations, increasing the equity needed to meet the standard.

The company said its foreign-currency prepaid balances now exceed 400 billion won. Applying the 20 percent equity ratio means 60 billion won of equity is needed when balances are 300 billion won, and 80 billion won when they are 400 billion won. For every 100 billion won increase in balances, required equity rises by 20 billion won. Travel Wallet did not disclose its actual equity or the amount of capital it needs to raise to meet the standard.

Foreign-currency prepaid balances can change sharply over a short period in won terms depending not only on users' top-up demand but also on exchange-rate movements. Travel Wallet said it understands the authorities' demand as aimed at supplementing capital management and business structure so that such business characteristics can be continuously reflected.

◆ IPO schedule unchanged... improvement plan in preparation

Travel Wallet said it is internally preparing plans for the capital strengthening and business structure improvements demanded by the FSC.

The FSC set the deadline for implementing the management improvement measures at Jan. 31, 2027, which is six months from the date of the demand. If the company fails to implement the measures by the deadline, it may face partial or full suspension of business after an FSC resolution.

Even if it does not complete the measures within the implementation period, the FSC may, after a resolution, urge additional implementation for a period of up to six months if the company has specific management improvement results or submits a future implementation plan including supporting materials.

The measures are drawing attention because they came about a month after Travel Wallet selected lead underwriters for its IPO and stepped up listing preparations.

Travel Wallet announced on June 25 that it had selected NH Investment & Securities and KB Securities as lead underwriters and would pursue a 2027 Kosdaq listing. It plans to enhance its own foreign exchange and payment infrastructure and expand its global digital wallet and B2B payment infrastructure businesses to boost growth potential and profitability.

Travel Wallet said it is proceeding with IPO preparations with its underwriters and in line with its existing plan, separately from the management improvement demand, and that there has so far been no change to its goal of a 2027 Kosdaq listing.

It also said there are no issues with the safety of customers' prepaid funds or service operations. Customer top-up funds are managed separately in full through bank deposits or trusts, separate from the company's own assets, and the shortfall in the capital ratio is not something that would lead to losses of customer funds or service suspension, it said.

The FSC also said the measures are aimed at improving soundness indicators and do not include business-related measures such as top-up restrictions or business suspension. Existing services will continue to operate normally during the management improvement implementation period.

A Travel Wallet official said, "We can meet the standards demanded by the financial authorities within the implementation period by pushing ahead with plans including capital strengthening and business structure improvement." The official added, "We cannot disclose the specific method of capital increase or details of business structure improvement because discussions are under way with partners and others."