KakaoBank aims to make inroads into Southeast Asian markets

KakaoBank revealed it has plans of venturing outside of South Korea, in the Southeast Asian market, to be exact. The finance service company that was established by Kakao Corp. and Korea Investment Holdings is hoping it can achieve this goal within the next few years.

KakaoBank has already started working to make its foray into the Southeast Asian region a reality soon. It is currently in talks with potential partners in its targeted countries. The plan was also confirmed by the bank's chief executive officer, Yun Ho Young, during the recent press conference that was held at the Fairmont Ambassador Seoul.

The CEO said he expects to see tangible developments for this venture by the end of this year. As per The Korea Times, Yun also said he has not yet decided if KakaoBank will advance into the overseas markets through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with local companies in the target nations or by obtaining banking licenses to operate independently there.

"Foraying into overseas markets is not an easy task, as banks are required to secure banking licenses in foreign countries," KakaoBank's chief said. "Yet, many foreign companies suggested we cooperate in business, seeing KakaoBank's success and platform capabilities."

He further told The Korea Times, "Currently, talks are ongoing with two Southeast Asian countries and it is expected that we can announce some tangible results within this year with one of them, while we expect to see visible developments with the other country by the end of this year."

KakaoBank will also increase its investment in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies so it can offer more innovative services to its customers. Yun said they want to be known as a "technological" bank since almost 40% of their staff have backgrounds in engineering. Moreover, since they are an internet-only bank, adopting new state-of-the-art technologies is most fitting for them.

Meanwhile, Korea Joogang Daily reported that KakaoBank is more likely to advance overseas through partnerships or M&A because it is very hard to secure a banking license to operate abroad. But still, a direct investment still remains an option.