Kakao Bank headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province (Kakao Bank)

Kakao Bank, a major online lender in Korea, is bolstering its presence in Southeast Asia with reinforced partnerships with Indonesian digital bank Superbank.

The bank on Wednesday announced it has signed a contract to collaborate on developing new financial products with Superbank, a digital bank in which Kakao Bank is one of the major shareholders.

According to the new contract, Kakao Bank will provide consulting for Superbank’s new financial products, leveraging its expertise in mobile banking and service planning to help introduce innovative financial services in Indonesia. With Kakao Bank offering the ideas for Superbank's new services, the two banks will collaborate to finalize concepts, design and development of the product launch.

Superbank will launch new financial services inspired by Kakao Bank’s ideas in Indonesia in the first half of next year.

In September 2023, Kakao Bank acquired a 10 percent stake in Superbank as part of its partnership with Singaporean mobility application Grab to push its business beyond South Korea. This marked Kakao Bank's first overseas equity investment.

Through its partnership with Grab -- Southeast Asia's largest "super app" operator -- and its differentiated products and services, Superbank gained 2.5 million customers in just five months after its launch in June. Considering that other digital banks took over six months to reach 1 million customers, Superbank's rapid growth is significant.

Superbank offers enhanced convenience and financial accessibility by leveraging Grab's ecosystem. Users can open a Superbank account directly on Grab and easily link it to various services on the super app. In fact, more than half of Superbank customers have connected their accounts to Grab.

Following its Superbank acquisition, Kakao Bank has closely collaborated with Superbank on various levels, including product and service development, user interface and user experience consulting, and joint customer promotion events.

With the latest contract, Kakao Bank anticipates that it will strengthen its global presence and gain deeper insights into the Southeast Asian market by actively participating in the planning, development and launch of a financial product targeting Indonesia.

"In addition to driving investment profit by enhancing Superbank's competitive edge, this partnership will provide an opportunity to explore and test new business models for future global ventures," a Kakao Bank representative stated.

Kakao Bank is currently the only South Korean internet-only bank actively pursuing international businesses.

Earlier this month, officials from SCBX, the holding company of Thailand’s leading lender Siam Commercial Bank, visited Kakao Bank's headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province.

During the visit, SCBX CEO Arthid Nanthawithaya and Kakao Bank CEO Yun Ho-young, along with other executives from both companies, held a meeting to discuss the progress of their ongoing collaboration to launch a virtual bank in Thailand.

The SCBX-led consortium applied for a license in September, with a decision expected in the first half of next year. Once granted, the virtual bank must begin operations within a year. Kakao Bank aims to secure at least 20 percent of the shares in the new virtual bank.

By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)