South Korea’s financial watchdog has given Daum Kakao Corp., the country’s largest mobile messenger operator, approval to engage in utility bill payment service in a move that will make it possible to pay bills through smartphones for the first time in the country, officials said Friday.
“We approved it after carrying out thorough inspections,” said an official from the Financial Supervisory Service.
Daum Kakao, which operates the KakaoTalk chat service with more than 37 million users, will be the first information technology firm to make inroads into the utility bill payment sector.
KakaoTalk users can receive electricity, water and house bills though the chat messenger and pay them through the company’s mobile payment tools, KakaoPay or BankWalletKakao, initiated last year.
Daum Kakao has been making aggressive moves to take the lead in the fast-growing mobile finance sector, while its rival Naver Corp. launched its mobile payment service, Naver Pay, last month. (Yonhap)
