KakaoBank's debit card cumulative payment amount has exceeded 154.9 trillion won. KakaoBank plans to broaden areas of use and expand payments into a core financial service.

KakaoBank said on Aug. 18 that cumulative payments totalled 154.9 trillion won from the debit card launch in July 2017 through the first half of this year.

Use of financial services by customers was also relatively high. As of the first half, customers who used the debit card for three consecutive months with monthly spending of 300,000 won or more had an average deposit balance of about 3.6 million won, about four times that of non-users. App visit frequency was also five times higher.

Payments also rose in the groups and sole proprietors segments. In the first half, payments made with the 'Group Debit Card' came to 674.3 billion won, up 54 percent from a year earlier. Payments made with the 'Sole Proprietor Debit Card' also rose about 20 percent to 409.1 billion won.

Overseas use is also expanding. In the first half, overseas offline payments were highest in Japan at 27.0 billion won, followed by Vietnam at 8.3 billion won, the United States at 5.6 billion won and Thailand at 2.1 billion won.

KakaoBank plans to launch within the year a new debit card that lets customers choose benefits based on spending needs, a foreign-currency account-linked 'overseas-focused debit card', and a debit card for foreign residents in South Korea.

Cumulative cashback paid to debit card customers was tallied at 637.1 billion won.

KakaoBank also plans to review over the mid to long term the possibility of applying new payment technologies such as stablecoins and central bank digital currency (CBDC) to its services.

A KakaoBank official said, "Based on our operating experience in payments and our technological capabilities, we will expand products and services and provide a payment experience that uses new technologies."