KakaoBank

Is KakaoBank safe?

For deposits, yes. KakaoBank Corp. is a fully licensed Korean bank, not a payments app, and since 1 September 2025 the Korea Deposit InsuranceDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary Corporation covers up to ₩100 million per person, about $70,000. Behind that, the bank holds a lot of capital: a CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary of 20.98% at 30 June 2026, against a requirement of 8.00%. Its liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary averaged 808% in the second quarter, eight times the regulatory minimum.

We score it 76/100, the same as ICBC and below DBS at 80. On capital and liquidity alone, KakaoBank would rank near the top of the banks we cover. It loses points because it is nine years old and untested in a crisis, it is app-only and closely tied to the Kakao group, and it has no international credit rating.

KDIC cover doubled in 2025

Korea kept its deposit insuranceDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary limit at ₩50 million per person from 2001 until 31 August 2025. On 1 September 2025 it doubled to ₩100 million, principal and interest combined, per person per bank. Money in defined-contribution pensions and IRPs held as deposits gets a separate ₩100 million.

The KDIC is a state agency, and Korea's sovereign is strong, so the guarantee itself is solid. Keep two limits in mind:

• Per bank, not per account. All your KakaoBank savings and time deposits are added together toward your ₩100 million.
• Not everything in the app is a deposit. Securities accounts opened through KakaoBank with partner brokers, funds and other investment products are not KDIC deposits.

KakaoBank is not on the list of Korea's domestic systemically important banks, so unlike KB Kookmin or Shinhan it carries no surcharge and has no special claim to state support beyond the deposit guarantee.

A very thick capital cushion

Measure (30 June 2026)	KakaoBank
CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary	20.98%
CET1 requirement	8.00%
Total capital ratio	22.11%
Liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary (Q2 average)	808.42%
Deposits	₩67.1 trillion
Loan delinquency rate	0.51%

The cushion comes mostly from the ₩2.5 trillion it raised in its 2021 stock market listing and has been shrinking as lending grows: the CET1 ratio was about 36% in 2022. Even so, the buffer of almost 13 points is far wider than at most large banks. Loans of about ₩48 trillion are well covered by deposits, and the rest sits in high-quality liquid assets of ₩15.8 trillion at June 2026.

The weak spot on funding is behaviour, not ratios. KakaoBank's deposits are small balances from app users who can move money in seconds. Deposits fell 3% in the second quarter of 2026 as customers shifted money into the stock market. That is ordinary, but it shows how quickly balances can shift.

The Kakao founder trial and the 10% rule

Kakao Corp. is KakaoBank's largest shareholder. Korean rules bar anyone convicted of financial crimes from owning more than 10% of a bank, so when Kakao founder Kim Beom-su was arrested in July 2024 over alleged manipulation of SM Entertainment's share price, Kakao's control of the bank was at risk. Prosecutors sought 15 years in prison. On 21 October 2025 a Seoul court acquitted him and other Kakao executives of all charges. Further appeals were expected, and we could not confirm their status.

For a depositor, this is a governance risk rather than a solvency one. A forced sale would change who controls KakaoBank, not the KDIC cover or the bank's capital.

Outages and app security

On 15 October 2022 a fire at the SK C&C data centre in Pangyo, which hosted Kakao's servers, took down KakaoTalk and many Kakao services, including payments, for days, and Kakao's co-CEO resigned. We found no report that KakaoBank's core banking failed, but many of the app's features lean on the wider Kakao ecosystem. KakaoBank has since built its own data centre, which reached full operation in 2026. We found no large data breach at the bank. The FSS rated its consumer protection as "average" in its 2024 evaluation.

KakaoBank's deals in Thailand, Indonesia and Korean leasing

Since 2023 KakaoBank has bought into banks abroad and agreed to buy a Korean lender. None of this changes the protection of a Korean depositor: the KDIC covers deposits at KakaoBank Corp. in Korea, and the foreign banks are separate companies under their own regulators.

• Thailand. On 19 June 2025 Thailand's finance minister, on the Bank of Thailand's advice, approved a group of SCB X, WeTechnology and KakaoBank as one of three applicants allowed to set up a virtual bank. Under a joint-venture agreement signed with SCB X on 21 January 2026, KakaoBank can own up to 24.5% and be the second-largest shareholder. It paid THB 250 million (about ₩11.5 billion) for a first 10% by June 2026 and plans to buy the other 14.5% within five years of the bank opening. The Thai bank must start with at least THB 5 billion of paid-in capital. We could not confirm that it has opened.
• Indonesia. KakaoBank first invested in Superbank (PT Super Bank Indonesia) in September 2023 and held 8.66% at 30 June 2026, booked at ₩135.6 billion. After Superbank listed in Jakarta on 17 December 2025, KakaoBank ended a shareholder agreement and stopped treating the bank as an associate, which produced a one-off pre-tax gain of about ₩93.3 billion.
• Mastern Capital. On 24 June 2026 its board agreed to buy all of Mastern Capital, a Korean instalment-finance and leasing company, for ₩24.1 billion in cash. The deal still needed regulatory approval in the August 2026 half-year report.

The sums are small. Even a full 24.5% of the minimum Thai capital would be under 1% of KakaoBank's ₩6.7 trillion of equity, and the Mastern price is 0.36%.

How to use KakaoBank safely

1. Keep deposits within ₩100 million per person if you want them fully insured, and use another bank for more.
2. Know which products in the app are deposits and which are partner investments.
3. Turn on biometric login and transfer limits, and keep an account at a second bank in case of an outage.
4. Never install remote-control apps or move money for a caller claiming to be from a bank, the FSS or the police; voice-phishing is a common fraud in Korea.

How we scored it

Liquidity (84) and capital (80) are KakaoBank's strongest factors: an LCRLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary of about 800% and a CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary more than twice its requirement. Stability history (66) is the weakest because the bank is young and untested, with digital security (70) next after the 2022 Kakao outage. The founder case is reflected in conduct (72).