A leading payments industry news source for more than 17 years. Glenbrook curates the news and keeps you abreast of the important daily headlines in payments.
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July 15, 2024
On the web
South Korea Proposes Delaying Crypto Gains Taxation to 2028
Coinspeaker
September 5, 2023
On the wires
ZeroPay Introduces Alipay+ at 1.7 Million Merchants in South Korea, Promoting Convenient Experience for Asian Tourists
Business Wire
July 31, 2023
On the web
South Korea to Pilot CBDC in One of These Three Cities, Not Seoul
Cointelegraph
June 30, 2023
On the web
South Korean Bank Rolls Out ATM Withdrawals with Alchera Facial Recognition
Biometric Update
October 26, 2021
On the wires
Coupang and Payoneer Partner to Empower Millions of Sellers to Tap Into One of the World’s Largest ECommerce Markets
“Payoneer (NASDAQ: PAYO), the commerce technology company powering payments and growth for the new global economy, and Coupang, one of the largest e-Commerce companies in Asia, today announced a new partnership that will provide hundreds of thousands of sellers from across the globe with the opportunity to more easily expand and sell into South Korea. By leveraging Payoneer’s technology and expertise to enhance Coupang’s payments capabilities, sellers on Coupang can now enjoy more seamless payments for their cross-border businesses.”
September 1, 2021
On the web
South Korea Passes Bill Limiting Apple and Google Control Over App Store Payments
CNBC
“South Korea’s parliament has approved a bill that will make it the first country to impose curbs on Google and Apple’s payment policies that force developers to only use the tech giants’ proprietary billing systems. The legislation will become law once signed by President Moon Jae-in, whose party has been a vocal supporter of the bill. Apple and Google’s policies usually require developers to pay the tech giants a commission as high as 30% of every transaction.”
August 31, 2021
On the wires
Kakao Pay Files an Updated Prospectus for IPO in October
“Kakao Pay is Korea’s biggest financial service platform that covers essential daily finance from digital payments, money transfer, insurance, loan, and asset management. We are pursuing innovative challenges through cooperating with about 130 financial service providers”, Kakao Pay CEO Alex Ryu said. The CEO added that the company will continue to bring about positive changes in the financial activities of more than 36.5 million users and enhance shareholder value based on its extensive usability, connectivity, and expandability.”
June 30, 2021
On the wires
Russian National Payment System “Mir” Becomes Available in South Korea
“BC Card, the biggest payment processing company in South Korea, firstly affiliates with NSPK, a Russian national payment company, to process card payment of “Mir” system in South Korea. As a Russian national payment system, Mir has 158 Issuers and 265 acquirers. Also its acceptances are spread over 11 countries. According to NSPK, 98.7 million cards have been issued in Russia as of May 1st, 2021. Thanks to the cooperation, Russians who visits South Korea will become able to use their own.”
March 2, 2021
On the web
South Korea’s Coupang Seeks Up to $3.6 Billion in New York IPO
Bloomberg
“South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. is seeking to raise as much as $3.6 billion from an initial public offering in New York, which will rank as one of the largest-ever Asian listings in the U.S. Seoul-based Coupang and some existing shareholders are offering 120 million shares at $27 to $30 each, according to a filing Monday. At the top end of the range, Coupang will be valued at as much as $51 billion based on the number of shares outstanding.”
December 10, 2020
On the web
Seoul-based payment tech startup CHAI gets $60 million from Hanhwa, SoftBank Ventures Asia
TechCrunch
“Demand for contactless payments and e-commerce has grown in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is good news for payment service operators, but the market is very fragmented, so adding payment options is a time-consuming process for many merchants. CHAI wants to fix this with an API that enables companies to accept over 20 payment systems. The Seoul-based startup announced today it has raised a $60 million Series B.”
January 27, 2020
On the web
Mobile Payment Accelerates Demise of Coins, Banking Branches
koreaherald
“Last year, the number of newly minted coins hit the lowest value on record and the number of banking branches continued to drop, according to data on Monday.The Bank of Korea, the nation’s central bank, said newly issued coins last year amounted to some 36.4 billion won ($30.9 million) in value, the lowest since comparable data started being compiled in 1992 and down 14.3 percent from a year earlier. The figure is even lower than the 39.6 billion won worth of newly made coins in 1998, when the nation’s economy collapsed amid the Asian financial crisis.”
December 4, 2018
On the web
Over 62,000 stores nationwide to implement Zero Pay system
Korea Times
“More than 62,000 stores will join the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s move to implement “Zero Pay,” a QR code-based transaction platform that is aimed at reducing the financial burden on small businesses that pay transaction fees to credit card companies.”
November 20, 2018
On the web
SoftBank doubles down on Korean online retailer Coupang with $2 bln investment
Reuters
“The latest investment follows the $1 billion that SoftBank invested in Coupang in 2015 and values the eight-year-old startup at around $9 billion, a source close to Coupang said. Coupang has since grown rapidly to become a major player in the country’s e-commerce market. It clocked 2.7 trillion won ($2.4 billion) in revenue last year, with its online sales almost as much as the next three largest e-commerce sites in the country combined, according to research firm Statista.”
On the wires
Mobile Payments at Convenience Stores Spike This Year
Korea Bizwire
“The percentage of mobile payments out of total settlements at convenience stores expanded to 3.5 percent this year, compared with 1.9 percent last year and 1 percent in 2015. “The number remains in the single-digit range, but the easy mobile settlement system has been growing at an exponential pace,” a CU official said. Currently, CU allows customers to use Samsung Electronics Co.’s Samsung Pay and 19 other payment tools at its stores.”
September 20, 2018
On the web
Electronic payments in S. Korea surge in Q2
Yonhap News
“The amount of payments made electronically in South Korea continued to rally in the second quarter as a growing number of people use mobile shopping and remittance services, central bank data showed Thursday. The daily average amount of electronic financial transactions came to a record 117.4 billion won (US$104.87 million) in the April-June period, up 17.4 percent from a quarter earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).”
August 20, 2018
On the wires
Alipay Launches World’s First Paperless Tax Refund Service in South Korea
“The newly introduced tax refund service in South Korea further simplifies the process by enabling Chinese tourists to apply for and claim tax rebates on their mobile phone app, skipping in-city and airport tax refund counters altogether. After scanning their passports at self-service kiosks prior to leaving South Korea, Chinese tourists can process tax rebates and immediately receive RMB refunds by using the Alipay mobile app to scan tax refund receipts within 90 days of purchasing.”
July 13, 2018
On the web
Seoul To Launch To Its Own Mobile Payment Platform: Report
ZD Net
“The municipal government has formed a task force that will work to launch the service, tentatively called S-Pay, which aims to improve payment convenience for citizens and small businesses. The task force will aim to build the system for the platform and cooperate with banks as well as find partnered small businesses. The platform will use a mobile app or QR codes. The aim is to lessen commissions paid by businesses when they use credit cards. S-Pay’s system won’t go through credit card companies’ systems.”
April 6, 2018
On the wires
Starbucks Korea Debuts Voice Ordering through Samsung’s Bixby
“Bixby allows My Starbucks Rewards™ customers in South Korea to place an order and pay through voice recognition “on command.” The feature allows customers to speak just as if they were talking to a barista in-store, including modifying their beverage to meet their personal preference. Bixby users who are not registered on the My Starbucks Rewards™ program will be prompted to first enroll and then continue to place their order.”
March 27, 2018
On the web
Samsung Pay’s monthly Android users hit nearly 7 mln mark in Feb
Yonhap News
“The number of South Korean users of Samsung Electronics Co.’s mobile payment system Samsung Pay reached nearly 7 million in February, an industry tracker said Tuesday. According to the data compiled by WiseApp, some 6.94 million users of Android-powered smartphones used Samsung Pay at least once last month.”
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