Boku launches KakaoPay payments in South Korea

Mobile payments and identity company Boku announced the launch of payments via KakaoPay in South Korea on Friday, for one of its global video games partners.

The AIM-traded firm said KakaoPay would augment the direct carrier billing payment options already provided by Boku across all three major mobile operators in the country.

It said consumers could now make digital purchases through the video game store using their KakaoPay mobile wallet via the Boku platform.

Boku's support for “tokenised” payments would enable customers to have their mobile payment on file for subscription or repeat purchases, without having to reauthorise payment details.

The company said mobile payments are already popular in South Korea, and were forecast to continue to grow at a 12.8% compound annual growth rate, reaching $189bn by 2025.

In 2019, e-commerce payments in South Korea via direct carrier billing reached $3.5bn annually, while e-wallets passed $12bn on an annual basis.

“E-wallets are the new payments phenomenon: developed for mobile, popular with consumers and merchants, growing fast and accounting for more than 60% of payments in Asia,” said chief executive officer Jon Prideaux.

“This partnership shows how Boku has become a genuine local payment provider, expanding our offering beyond carrier billing also to support e-wallets.

“We are excited to give our merchants more ways to grow their business.”

At 1312 BST, shares in Boku were up 1.6% at 95.5p.