Average Daily Simple Payment and Remittance Surpass 2.4 Trillion Won in First Half, Setting New Record

Bank of Korea Releases "Status of Electronic Payment Services in the First Half of 2026"
Simple Payment Volume Reaches 1.2264 Trillion Won, Up 16.8%
Simple Remittance Volume Hits 1.1728 Trillion Won, Up 19.8%

In the first half of this year, the average daily transaction amount for easy payment services and easy transfer services reached 1.2264 trillion won and 1.1728 trillion won, respectively, marking all-time highs since statistical compilation began in 2016.

According to the "2026 First Half Electronic Payment Service Usage Status" released by the Bank of Korea on September 18, the average daily usage volume for easy payment services in the first half of this year was 38.22 million transactions and 1.2264 trillion won. This represents an increase of 12.8% and 16.8%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. For easy transfer services, while the number of transactions decreased by 1.5% year-on-year to 7.433 million, the transaction amount increased by 19.8% to 1.1728 trillion won.

Easy payment and easy transfer services refer to payment and transfer services that utilize simple authentication methods such as passwords or biometric information, following the abolishment of mandatory use of authorized certificates in March 2015. This category has been surveyed separately from electronic payment service statistics under the Electronic Financial Transactions Act since 2016.

Among easy payment service providers, electronic financial firms such as Naver Pay and Kakao Pay saw the number of transactions and transaction amounts rise by 13.0% and 17.5%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. The share of electronic financial firms increased from 55.1% in both halves of last year to 55.4% in the first half of this year. In contrast, the shares for mobile device manufacturers and financial companies fell to 23.3% and 21.2%, representing decreases of 0.3 percentage points and 0.2 percentage points, respectively.

The average daily usage of electronic payment gateway (PG) services in the first half was 36.75 million transactions and 1.7234 trillion won, which marks year-on-year increases of 12.1% and 12.6%, respectively. PG refers to services in e-commerce that receive payments from buyers and, by transmitting and receiving payment settlement information or mediating payment clearing, ultimately ensure payment to sellers.

By payment method, credit card settlement, which accounts for 74.2% of the amount processed by PG services, increased by 12.8% year-on-year. Settlement via account transfer and other means (such as prepaid electronic payment instruments) also continued their upward trend, growing by 16.7% and 27.7%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

The average daily usage of prepaid electronic payment instrument services was 39.22 million transactions and 1.5535 trillion won, representing increases of 14.5% and 21.9%, respectively, from a year earlier. These services allow payments for transactions, transportation fares, and remittances with prepaid funds loaded in advance via account linkage or other means, and involve the issuance and management of such prepaid funds.

Transaction amounts for electronic financial business operators continued to rise, increasing by 23.1% for easy payment and 19.9% for easy transfer services compared to the same period last year. For financial companies, the transaction amount increased by 38.7% year-on-year.

The average daily transaction volume for payment deposit services was 5.87 million transactions and 207.1 billion won, marking increases of 21.4% and 6.2%, respectively, over the previous year. Payment deposit services involve holding buyer payments in escrow in e-commerce and, after confirming that the transaction was properly completed (e.g., delivery confirmation), releasing payment to the seller.

For electronic billing and payment services—which electronically issue bills such as apartment management fees, electricity and gas bills via email or apps, and then directly collect and settle payments—the average daily usage reached 320,000 transactions and 97.6 billion won, reflecting increases of 7.4% and 8.9%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.