K Bank’s customer base surpasses 9 million on growth in users in their 50s.

K Bank headquarters. [Courtesy of K Bank]

South Korea’s internet-only bank, K Bank, has surpassed the 9 million customer mark in its sixth year of operation thanks to an increase in customers over the age of 50. The bank aims to increase its customer base to 10 million within the year by adding new products such as car loans.

On Wednesday, K Bank announced that it has surpassed 9 million customers, a new milestone which comes 10 months after reaching 8 million customers in September last year. Launched in April 2017, K Bank continued to grow, reaching 1 million customers in April 2019 and 5 million in May 2021.

In particular, the proportion of customers aged 50 and over, which stood at 16 percent at the end of 2021, rose to 21 percent at the end of July this year, exceeding 20 percent for the first time.

An increase in loan products contributed significantly to the bank’s customer growth. New transactions in which the bank lends to customers using their apartments as collateral amounted to 1.6 trillion won ($1.21 billion) by the end of July this year. More than half of these customers are those who have relied on K Bank to repay loans borrowed from other financial institutions. K Bank has cut its apartment mortgage rates six times since October last year to ease customers’ interest burdens as lending rates soared.

In addition to lower interest rates, the bank has also waived early repayment fees on its loans, another popular feature. K Bank claims that this has resulted in benefits to customers of around 18 billion won. In June 2021, K Bank removed the preferential interest rate condition for apartment mortgages and allow all customers to borrow at a lower rate.

K Bank is preparing to launch a loan product for jeonse tenants with a limit of up to 1 billion won by the end of the year. The bank also plans to introduce a car loan refinancing product in the third quarter and a car purchase loan later this year.