Ahead of its launch Thursday, Kakao Bank unveiled Sunday its plans to offer commission fees on offshore wire transfers that were just a tenth of the amount charged at offline banks.

As the second branchless bank in South Korea following K bank that started operation in April, Kakao Bank said its fees charged from electronic wire services will be better streamlined than conventional commercial banks. 

A bank user who transfers money worth up to $5,000 through the smartphone app will be charged 5,000 won ($4.47) in commission fees. The bank said it would amount to one-tenth of the commission at brick-and-mortar banks, which charge customers around 50,000 won for wiring $5,000 with multilayered commission fees. Those sending more than $5,000 through Kakao Bank will be charged 10,000 won.

Out of the 12 currencies Kakao Bank offers wire services for, Japanese yen, Thai baht and the Philippine peso would be exceptions to the fee systems. Users will be charged 8,000 won plus additional commission fees for transfers.

On Wednesday last week, the online-only bank announced it would launch customer services Thursday. Its banking app will run based on Korea’s most popular mobile messenger app KakaoTalk.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)