S. Korea's Internet banking use up 24.8 pct in 2009

SEOUL, Jan. 27 (Yonhap) -- Use of Internet banking in South Korea rose 24.8 percent in 2009 from a year earlier as more people went on-line for financial transactions, the central bank said Wednesday.

On-line banking transactions reached an average of 28 million per day last year,
compared with 22.4 million the previous year, according to the Bank of Korea. The
number is based on on-line users checking financial records, transferring funds
or taking out loans.
The total value of Internet banking transactions came to 29.5 trillion won
(US$25.4 billion) per day, up 28.9 percent from a year earlier.
The number of Internet banking subscribers registered with 17 local banks, the
state-run Korea Post and HSBC Holdings Plc gained 12.6 percentage points from a
year earlier to 59.2 million as of the end of last year. The figure has grown at
a double-digit rate since 2005, it added.
The majority of transactions were conducted via computers, but mobile banking, or
banking services via wireless handsets, accounted for 6.1 percent of the total.
Transactions based on mobile banking jumped 62.7 percent on-year to an average
1.72 million per day, the central bank said.
Nearly nine out of 10 households in South Korea have access to cheap broadband
Internet. The nation's computer usage is among the highest in the world.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr