South Korea mobile payment usage surges in first half of year

Daily average payment card usage in South Korea rose to 3.777 trillion won in the first half of this year, a 7.6% increase compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Bank of Korea.

There is a notable shift toward mobile-based simple payment services. Transactions that do not require presenting a physical card grew by 10.6% year-on-year, averaging 1.789 trillion won daily. Within these non-physical transactions, simple payment services accounted for 52.6%, with fintech providers handling 72% of that volume.

In contrast, transactions involving physical cards grew more modestly by 2.5%. By card type, deferred payment cards (such as credit cards) made up 79.7% of total usage, while debit cards accounted for the remainder. Additionally, internet banking usage saw significant growth, with daily average transaction amounts increasing by 23.9% to 106.4 trillion won.