Kakao Pay will end its pre-departure currency exchange service for overseas travelers after six years. As convenient payment methods that allow transactions without currency exchange are becoming more active, it seems that the banks that have supported the currency exchange service have concluded that there is no reason to continue this service.
According to Kakao Pay on the 3rd, Kakao Pay will terminate its pre-departure currency exchange service on April 1. The partnership with KEB Hana Bank, which has been cooperating on the currency exchange service until now, will end. Starting in April, services such as new currency exchange, gifting currency exchange, and automatic currency exchange when target exchange rates are reached will no longer be available. While users can still convert foreign currencies that have already been requested into Korean won or use foreign currency account transfers, those services will be phased out.
Kakao Pay's currency exchange service was first launched in 2019. This service began in collaboration with Hana Bank to allow users to easily handle foreign currency exchange, storage, and re-exchange through the Kakao Pay application. The currency exchange service gained significant popularity, surpassing 1 million transactions within just 10 months of its launch. Hana Bank aimed to create touchpoints with customers who previously had no banking relationship and to strengthen digital finance through collaboration with fintech companies.
However, it is interpreted that the demand for currency exchange itself has decreased recently, and as each company supports different overseas payment methods, the collaboration demand has disappeared. Recently, Kakao Pay has been expanding its currency-free QR convenient payment service through collaboration with overseas payment companies. Currently, Kakao Pay supports QR convenient payments in over 50 countries worldwide, offering high convenience as there is no need for separate registration or currency exchange procedures.
With Hana Bank also supporting Hana Card's Travel Log check card since last year, the demand for collaboration has diminished. Travel Log is Hana Financial Group's representative overseas travel service that supports cashless travel through 24-hour mobile currency exchange. As of the end of 2024, the number of subscribers exceeded 7 million, and it provides free currency exchange services for 58 types of currency.
A Kakao Pay official said, "As the contract period with Hana Bank has ended and we are growing Kakao Pay's own overseas payment service, we have decided to discontinue the currency exchange service as a matter of focus and selection," adding, "There are no plans to partner with other companies." He noted, "For applications made by the end of this month, they will still be processed in April."