[May 06, 2010] S. Korea sees 11.4 percent increase in Internet banking in Q1 Tweet SEOUL, May 06, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- More South Koreans used the Internet banking in the first quarter of this year from the previous quarter as a report from the central bank Thursday showed an 11.4 percent increase in people who engaged in online financial transactions. According to the Bank of Korea, South Korea saw an average 33 million online banking transactions per day in the January-March period, a rise from the previous quarter's 29.7 million transactions. It also resulted in a 3.9 percent increase from the previous quarter in total value of Internet banking transactions as it reached 33.6 trillion won (30 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter alone, the central bank said. Computers were the preferred method of online financial transactions, which include checking financial records, transfer of funds, or loan payments, but mobile banking, or bank transaction through mobile handsets, accounted for 7 percent of the total figure, as it also jumped 14.6 percent on-year to nearly 2.32 million transactions per day, it added. South Korea is one of the most wired countries in the world with almost nine out of 10 households having access to broadband connection, and the government predicted earlier this year that more than 12 million mobile banking transactions will take place by 2012. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]