South Korea's financial authorities said Thursday they will step up efforts to streamline Internet banking procedures by promoting the removal of unnecessary security software and the minimum use of digital certificates.

The measures are part of the government's financial reform drive, and were drawn up by a council of representatives from the Financial Supervisory Service, the Financial Institute, financial services firms, and civilian financial security experts.

The FSS pointed out that some financial firms here still require customers to download security programs unrelated to services they want.

"They lack efforts to enhance the convenience of customers," it said in a statement, adding it will advise them to take corrective measures.

The state financial watchdog also said it will promote the use of alternatives to the one-time password program or other digital certificates widely used for online financial transactions.

Proposed alternatives include fingerprint or iris-reading services and integrated circuit cards installed on smartphones.

Among 16 local banks, a dozen have already launched a "simple remittance service" to enable money transfers without such tools or have plans to do so in partnerships with fintech firms, according to the FSS. (Yonhap)