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Daily value of online payments grows 9.2% to reach all-time high in 2025

Published: 20 Mar. 2026, 14:47

Naver Pay’s integrated offline payment terminal, N Pay Connect, is displayed at a cashier's desk. [NAVER PAY]

The value of electronic payments in Korea reached an all-time high in 2025, driven by steady growth in online transactions, central bank data showed Friday.

The average daily value of payment gateway (PG) services reached 1.55 trillion won ($1.04 billion) last year, up 9.2 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the Bank of Korea.

The daily average number of transactions also rose 11.8 percent on-year to 33.64 million.

Both the number of transactions and the value marked the highest levels since the central bank began compiling the related data in 2007.

PG services are platforms that transmit and receive payment and settlement information in e-commerce, facilitating the collection of payments from buyers and their final transfer to sellers.

Growth in PG services was driven by credit card payment processing, which accounted for about 75 percent of the total value.

Kakao Pay officials pose during the company’s Kospi listing ceremony at the Korea Exchange in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Nov. 3, 2021. [YONHAP]

The daily average usage of prepaid electronic payment services also gained 8.0 percent from a year earlier to 36.54 million transactions, while their value increased 11.0 percent to 1.31 trillion won in 2025.

The use of simple payment services, which allow users to make payments using passwords or biometric authentication, has also gained further traction.

The daily average number of simple payment transactions reached 35.57 million last year, up 14.9 percent from a year earlier, while their value rose 14.6 percent to 1.11 trillion won.

In terms of provider share, electronic financial service companies, such as Naver Pay and Kakao Pay, increased their share to 54.9 percent last year from 50.5 percent the previous year.

But the shares of mobile phone manufacturers and financial institutions declined to 23.7 percent and 21.5 percent, respectively, the data showed.

Yonhap