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Naver Corp., South Korea's top portal operator, said Monday it is considering launching a mobile wallet system through its social networking service BAND in the near future, following its bigger local rival Kakao Corp. releasing a similar service later this year.
"It is true that we are reviewing (the service), but nothing, including whether we will actually launch it or when it will happen, has been decided yet," an official from Naver said.
Industry sources earlier said the BAND service is considering forging a deal with Yellow Mobile, a local operator of financial transaction services, to allow users to transfer small amounts of cash.
Naver also operates free-messenger service LINE, but BAND is focused more on group interaction.
The move comes as Kakao plans to launch Bank Wallet Kakao, a mobile platform than supports small-sum financial transactions and mobile payments, in the second half.
The mobile wallet service will enable users to transfer up to 100,000 won ($96.53) or pay up to 300,000 won at designated stores using their Kakao accounts, which will make transactions much simpler than bank applications that are operated based on phone numbers.
Kakao Talk has 37 million South Korean users while BAND users are estimated at around 33 million. Their close user numbers are likely to start off another competition in the country's mobile market, industry watchers say. (Yonhap)
