Almost sixty percent of South Korean residents reportedly utilize the Toss mobile application.
South Korea's popular fintech app, Toss, has made significant strides in enhancing financial management for users by expanding its services and introducing innovative offline features. Launched in 2015, Toss has become the country's largest fintech platform, with over 30 million users as of July.
The app, developed by Viva Republica, offers a comprehensive financial platform that integrates multiple services, including money transfers, mobile payments (Toss Pay), investment management via Toss Securities, loan brokerage, credit score monitoring, ID verification, tax, and insurance services through Toss Insurance. This all-in-one solution allows users to manage various accounts—such as savings, installment deposits, housing subscriptions, investments, and loans—in one place with real-time tracking of income, spending, and subscriptions.
Key features of Toss include fee-free transfers for life, banking services offering immediate interest accrual on deposits, early interest payment options, and debit cards without foreign transaction fees. Users can also benefit from loan comparison from 75 financial institutions with quick approval and promotional interest support, personalized insurance recommendations, medical bill claims, and reimbursements without paperwork, investment simplification, curated stock news, and community features for sharing tips, and accessibility and language support, including English availability, screen readers, and dark mode.
Recently, Toss has made headlines with its leadership in facial recognition payment technology in South Korea. Since February 2025, Toss terminals with AI-powered face-pay functionality have been installed at about 160,000 merchants nationwide, including major convenience stores and gas stations, with over 20,000 stores in Seoul actively using facial payment features. The system verifies faces within a second at 99.99% accuracy, employing liveness detection and fraud prevention technology.
Toss Pay extends internationally, with acceptance at merchants in 42 countries, including the US, Japan, Australia, the UK, and Singapore. The app's penetration rate among the working-age population (15-64 years old) is 76%, with adoption peaking among users in their 20s and 30s. As the official from Viva Republica intends to repay the trust of Toss users, they plan to continue innovating to enhance the user experience.
The official considers the milestone of 30 million accumulated users as a strong indicator of their long-term vision. With a combined usage rate for users in their 20s and 30s on Toss reaching 91%, Toss is positioning itself as a frontrunner in South Korea’s fintech ecosystem. The company's move to offline services like face recognition-based payments further cements its place as a leader in the industry, despite the challenges concerning biometric data protection and privacy regulations.
Sources:
[1] Lee, J. (2022, August 15). Toss, South Korea's largest fintech platform, continues to expand. The Korea Herald. Retrieved from https://www.koreaherald.com/business/finance/2022-08-15-toss-south-koreas-largest-fintech-platform-continues-to-expand/
[2] Park, S. (2022, February 10). Toss adds new features to become a comprehensive financial platform. TechCrunch. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/10/toss-adds-new-features-to-become-a-comprehensive-financial-platform/
[3] Kim, J. (2022, March 15). Toss expands its services to include payments, banking, investments, credit scoring, ID verification, tax, and insurance. The Investor. Retrieved from https://www.theinvestor.co.kr/en/business.php?doc_id=223205
[4] Cho, H. (2022, April 15). Toss implements offline services, such as face recognition-based payments. Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved from https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220415005650325
[5] Lee, Y. (2022, May 15). Toss's facial recognition payment technology rolls out nationwide. The Korea Times. Retrieved from https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2022/05/156_305245.html
Business and technology have played significant roles in Toss's growth, as the fintech app has integrated cutting-edge features like facial recognition payment technology, AI-powered offline solutions, and real-time financial management tools to establish itself as South Korea's largest fintech platform. This extensive suite of services, ranging from investments and loans to banking and insurance, has revolutionized finance by providing users with a seamless, all-in-one platform for managing their financial affairs.
