Major South Korean lender Woori Bank said Monday it is set to launch a mobile-based notification service on Tuesday to replace its current postal delivery of documents regarding customer banking activities.

After completing a personal identification process in the bank’s mobile application, its users will receive e-notifications of 21 pieces of banking information on deposits or loans, including repayment due dates, which previously have been mailed to their home address. 

Marking the first of its kind in the banking sector, the mobile-only notification service was developed in cooperation with Kakao Pay, the nation’s No. 1 mobile payment service provider and telecom giant KT. 

The cross-industry service came as the government eased regulations on mobile alerts of consumer information by private companies and commercial banks, in accordance with its so-called “sandbox” program. It is a regulatory framework aimed at temporarily lifting regulations to test-run new technologies or promising ventures. 

The newly-launched service will enable bank users to keep track of their account activity, whenever and wherever possible, as long as they carry their smartphones with them, officials said.

“By delivering e-notifications to customers through KakaoTalk and SMS, we are hoping to prevent them from not getting mail at their home address in time, due to their temporary absence or moving to a new location, as well as to address personal information leakage problems caused by loss of mail by the postal service,” the bank said. 

“Also, our paperless notification service will contribute to protecting the environment, while reducing time and money spent on producing and distributing paper documents.”

By Choi Jae-hee (cjh@heraldcorp.com)