Jung Jin-wan, entering his second year as President of Woori Bank, is making a decisive move to expand the customer base. The bank has launched a new experiment directly linking its budget-friendly mobile service with financial transactions to convert non-financial customer touchpoints—expanded through embedded finance services like Samsung Wallet Money—into actual banking activities. The strategy goes beyond simply selling bank products; it aims to enter customers' daily lives in payments, communications, gaming, performances, and content, secure them as customers, and then connect them to long-term financial transactions such as salary transfers.
According to the financial sector on the 31st, Woori Bank will launch a budget-friendly mobile plan called 'Woori WON Celebrity (Salary_Up)' on September 1, reducing communication fees to a maximum of 'zero won' based on financial transaction performance. This marks the first structure in the telecommunications industry that determines communication fee discounts according to financial transaction records with the bank, moving beyond simple price and data competition.
The 'Woori WON Celebrity' plan consists of two tiers: '15GB+' with a monthly base fee of 20,000 won and '71GB+' at 30,000 won. By combining the base discount for signing up with a maximum financial discount of 15,000 won based on transaction performance, the 15GB+ plan reduces the monthly communication fee to zero won, while the 71GB+ plan lowers it to as little as 5,000 won. These benefits apply for one year.
Among seven financial discount categories, priority was given to securing core banking accounts by allocating a 10,000 won monthly discount when salary transfers (10 thousand won or more per month) are made or when new or maintained membership in the four major pension systems is confirmed. Additional discounts include: 1,000 won for automatic payment of Woori WON Mobile communication fees; 2,000 won each for new registration and login to WON Banking and new or maintained housing subscription comprehensive savings accounts; and 1,000 won each for new or maintained Samsung Wallet Money linked to Woori Bank accounts and time deposits.
From Woori Bank's perspective, offering a highly tangible benefit of reduced communication fees allows the bank to acquire new customers and connect them to long-term transactions such as salary accounts. For new customers, switching their salary account to Woori Bank alone can save 120,000 won annually in communication fees, making it an effective incentive for shifting core banking relationships.
Over the past two years, Woori Bank has rapidly expanded its customer touchpoints by crossing boundaries between finance and non-finance sectors. Notable initiatives include Samsung Wallet Money launched in partnership with Samsung Electronics; 'Npay Money Woori Account' from Naver Pay; 'CJ PAY Woori Account' from CJ OliveNetworks; and 'Samsung Card Woori Time Deposit' offering up to 10% annual interest linked with Samsung Card. The bank also formed an official sponsorship deal with esports team T1, launching exclusive time deposits and debit cards, and became the only commercial bank to open an IRP (Individual Retirement Pension) consultation window on Naver Pay's pension home page.
Samsung Wallet Money, launched in December last year, reached 500,000 subscribers within three weeks of launch, surpassed one million before two months had passed, and exceeded 2.5 million subscribers as of July. The bank has secured over 18,000 stores nationwide—including Daiso and CU—as strategic partner merchants, expanding customer touchpoints from online to offline channels.
The bank is also expanding into new non-financial businesses. Following the launch of 'Woori WON Mobile,' its budget-friendly mobile service in April last year, it established the performance ticketing platform 'Two The Moon' (TWOTHEMOON) in April this year. Two The Moon represents the first case of a bank directly entering the ticket reservation market, offering a win-win model that provides independent reservation infrastructure to emerging artists and small-scale production companies.
With the launch of 'Woori WON Celebrity,' Woori Bank is shifting its focus from 'expanding customer touchpoints' to 'converting them into financial transactions.' Since the 2.5 million Samsung Wallet Money subscribers do not automatically become core banking customers, the bank believes it is crucial to connect the broad customer base built through payments, communications, and content to core financial activities such as salary transfers, housing subscriptions, and time deposits.
in FINANCE
