[THE INVESTOR] K bank, Korea’s first internet-only bank, has achieved more than half of its full-year target of attracting deposits just 24 days after launching operations, the nation’s financial regulator said on April 27.

The pace of growth in K bank’s deposits is much faster than expected and the internet-only bank is fueling increased competition with traditional banks, the Financial Services Commission said in a statement.

K bank, formed by a consortium of KT, Woori Bank and 19 other companies, set the target of attracting 500 billion won (US$442.6 million) worth of deposits and making loans worth 400 billion won this year.

As of April 26, it attracted 284.8 billion won worth of deposits and made loans worth 186.5 billion won, according to the FSC data. The number of customers at stood at about 240,000 people.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)