Less paperwork, AI-powered banking: KakaoBank joins race for foreign customers

KakaoBank launched financial services for international residents in Korea on Monday, including checking accounts, debit cards, overseas remittances and AI-powered multilingual support. Eligible residents aged 19 or older can open an account through a mobile chatbot in about five minutes using MyData verification. The service supports English, Chinese and Vietnamese initially, while remittances are available to around 200 countries in more than 50 currencies.

The Foreign Resident Account requires accepted identification and a mobile phone registered in the applicant’s name.

KakaoBank’s AI translation covers app screens, important notifications and chat consultations, with customer consultations initially available in English.

Transfers to major destinations including the United States and China are free of charge through KakaoBank’s partnership with Hanpass.

Korea’s foreign population reached a record 2.78 million at the end of 2025, a 5 percent increase from a year earlier.

Published Oct 12, 2026 3:08 pm KST

Bae Jung-ho, head of KakaoBank’s Foreign Customer Camp, speaks during a press conference in Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of KakaoBank

KakaoBank on Monday launched a range of financial services for international residents in Korea, joining local lenders in the race to attract customers from the country's growing foreign population.

The new offering from the internet-only lender includes checking accounts, debit cards, overseas remittances and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered multilingual support.

"Even though banking has become much more convenient for domestic customers, foreign residents still face the kind of inconvenience we experienced in the past, when we had to visit bank branches just to open an account," Bae Jung-ho, head of KakaoBank's Foreign Customer Camp, said during a press conference in Seoul.

"By providing foreign residents with the same app that our 28 million customers already use, we were able to launch more than 50 services at once," he added.

KakaoBank's Foreign Resident Account is available to residents aged 19 or older who have an accepted form of identification and a mobile phone registered in their name. Applicants can open an account through a mobile chatbot in about five minutes, the bank said.

The application process uses public MyData services to verify applicants' names, nationalities and addresses, reducing the need to enter personal information manually.

The app also features AI-powered translation designed to address inconsistent language support across banking apps.

"Some banking apps provide multilingual support on certain screens, but when customers move to another function, the app suddenly switches back to Korean," Bae said, describing the challenges often faced by foreign residents.

KakaoBank has applied AI translation to app screens, important notifications and chat consultations. The service initially supports English, Chinese and Vietnamese, while customer consultations are available in English. The bank plans to expand language support to other languages next year.

Foreign residents can also apply for KakaoBank's debit card, which supports domestic payments and offers the same cashback benefits as cards available to Korean customers.

For international transfers, the internet-only lender has partnered with fintech firm Hanpass to offer remittances to around 200 countries in more than 50 currencies. Transfers to major destinations, including the United States and China, are free of charge.

KakaoBank will also offer its own service for receiving overseas remittances, which the bank expects to be particularly useful for international students.

The launch comes as Korean banks step up efforts to tap the growing foreign customer market.

Korea’s foreign population reached a record 2.78 million at the end of 2025, up 5 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Justice.

Competition is already underway. Toss Bank, another internet-only lender, has offered non-face-to-face account opening services for foreign residents since 2022, while major commercial banks have expanded multilingual services and dedicated branches for foreign customers.

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韩国KakaoBank周一正式面向在韩国际居民推出金融服务，包括支票账户、借记卡、海外汇款以及人工智能驱动的多语言支持。年满19周岁的符合条件的居民可通过手机聊天机器人，使用MyData验证信息，在约五分钟内完成开户。该服务初期支持英语、中文和越南语，汇款服务覆盖约200个国家，支持50多种货币。

外国居民账户需要提供认可的身份证明文件和以申请人名义注册的手机号码。

KakaoBank 的 AI 翻译涵盖应用程序屏幕、重要通知和聊天咨询，客户咨询最初提供英语版本。

通过 KakaoBank 与 Hanpass 的合作，前往包括美国和中国在内的主要目的地的转账服务是免费的。

到 2025 年底，韩国的外国人口达到创纪录的 278 万，比上年增长 5%。

发布于2026年10月12日下午3:08（韩国标准时间）

卡卡奥银行海外客户部负责人裴正浩（音译）周一在首尔举行的新闻发布会上发表讲话。图片由卡卡奥银行提供。

周一，KakaoBank面向在韩国际居民推出了一系列金融服务，加入到当地银行争夺韩国日益增长的外国人口客户的竞争行列中。

这家仅通过互联网开展业务的贷款机构推出的新产品包括支票账户、借记卡、海外汇款和人工智能 (AI) 驱动的多语言支持。

“尽管银行业务对国内客户来说变得更加便捷，但外国居民仍然面临着我们过去经历的那种不便，那就是必须亲自去银行网点才能开户，”KakaoBank 外国客户营负责人裴正浩在首尔举行的新闻发布会上表示。

他补充说：“通过向外国居民提供我们2800万客户已经使用的同一款应用程序，我们得以一次性推出50多项服务。”

KakaoBank面向19岁及以上、持有有效身份证件且名下已登记手机号码的居民开设了外国居民账户。该银行表示，申请人可以通过手机聊天机器人，在大约五分钟内完成开户。

申请流程使用公共的 MyData 服务来验证申请人的姓名、国籍和地址，从而减少了手动输入个人信息的需要。

该应用程序还配备了人工智能驱动的翻译功能，旨在解决银行应用程序之间语言支持不一致的问题。

“有些银行应用程序在某些屏幕上提供多语言支持，但当客户切换到其他功能时，应用程序会突然切换回韩语，”裴说，他描述了外国居民经常面临的挑战。

KakaoBank已将人工智能翻译应用于应用程序界面、重要通知和聊天咨询。该服务目前支持英语、中文和越南语，而客户咨询则以英语进行。该银行计划明年将语言支持扩展到其他语言。

外国居民也可以申请 KakaoBank 的借记卡，该卡支持韩国境内支付，并提供与韩国客户可使用的卡相同的现金返还优惠。

这家纯线上贷款机构与金融科技公司韩汇合作，为国际汇款提供超过50种货币、汇往约200个国家/地区的服务。汇往包括美国和中国在内的主要目的地均免收手续费。

KakaoBank还将提供自己的海外汇款接收服务，该银行预计这项服务对国际学生尤其有用。

此次发布正值韩国银行业加大力度开拓不断增长的外国客户市场之际。

据韩国司法部统计，截至2025年底，韩国的外国人口达到创纪录的278万人，比上年增长5%。

竞争已经展开。另一家纯线上贷款机构Toss Bank自2022年起就为外国居民提供非面对面开户服务，而各大商业银行也扩大了多语种服务，并设立了专门服务外国客户的分支机构。

KakaoBank公布上半年贷款和手续费收入利润创历史新高，达到2.3亿美元。

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