Toss announced on the 1st that it recorded a total of 460,000 foreign subscribers until the first half of this year. This is an increase of about 30% from 360,000 in the same period last year.
This figure corresponds to about 17% of the total foreign residents in Korea (approximately 2.65 million). Foreign users from a total of 178 countries, including those with a high share of foreign residents such as the United States, China, and Vietnam, used Toss. The country with the highest growth rate in subscribers was Vietnam, which saw an 85% increase compared to the previous year. This is interpreted as the result of Toss's convenience rapidly spreading within the Vietnamese community.
Factors leading to the increase in subscribers include improvements in the foreigner-friendly verification system, enhanced accessibility to financial services within the app for foreigners, and an expanded range of English application.
Most verification procedures in Korea are designed based on nationals and have often only been Anglicized, causing significant inconvenience for foreign users with long name structures, particularly from the Middle East and Spanish-speaking countries. Toss has improved these issues, establishing a structure that allows users of any nationality to verify their identity without difficulty, which has become a key foundation for attracting foreign users.
Providing foreigners with the same access to financial services as nationals has also been effective. Foreign clients can use a wide range of financial services, from remittances to debit cards, mydata, Toss Pay, hospital expense reimbursement applications, and app tech features, all in English. Toss is the only domestic platform that offers all these major services in English.
Toss also officially introduced English services throughout the app after a five-month beta test starting in January of this year. Foreign users who are not familiar with the Korean language can now use over 100 services in English, including financial services and app tech features like a pedometer.
A Toss representative noted, 'During the first half of the year, we were able to actively promote the Toss brand through various activities, such as hosting events specifically for foreigners and launching a dedicated overseas remittance service.' They added, 'We plan to further expand multilingual support within the third quarter and continue to evolve as a user-friendly financial platform for foreigners.'