K-Bank's customers exceed 200,000 in 2 weeks

SEOUL, April 18 (Yonhap) -- K-Bank, South Korea's first Internet-only bank, said Tuesday it has attracted more than 200,000 customers in two weeks after launching operations.

K-Bank has also attracted about 230 billion won (US$203 million) worth of deposits and made loans worth some 130 billion won so far, bank officials said.

The pace of growth in K-Bank's deposits and loans was faster than originally expected.

K-Bank, formed by a consortium of KT Corp., Woori Bank and 19 other companies, set a target of attracting 500 billion won worth of deposits and making loans worth 400 billion won this year.

Internet banks offer banking and other financial services without physical branch networks.

K-Bank, which is open around the clock, offers ordinary deposits, time deposits and card loans with more favorable interest rates than the ones offered by traditional banks.

(END)