S. Korea's Internet banking up 25 pct last year

SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Yonhap) -- The use of Internet banking in South Korea rose 25.1
percent in 2008 as people increasingly went online to make financial
transactions, the central bank said Wednesday.

According to the Bank of Korea, Internet banking transactions reached an average
22.4 million per day last year, compared with 17.9 million the previous year. The
number is based on online banking transactions to check financial records,
transfer funds or take out loans.
The number of Internet banking subscribers registered with 17 local banks, the
state-run Korea Post and HSBC Holdings Plc stood at 52.6 million as of the end of
December, up 17.7 percent from a year earlier. The number of Internet banking
users has grown at a double-digit rate since 2005, it added.
The majority of the transactions were conducted via computer, but mobile banking,
or banking services via wireless handsets, accounted for 4.7 percent of the
total. Transactions based on mobile banking jumped 47.6 percent on-year to an
average 1.06 million per day, the central bank said.
South Korea is one of the most wired nations in the world, with over two-thirds
of its people using the high-speed Internet.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)