KakaoBank Launches Korea’s First Azure OpenAI-Powered Conversational AI Service in the Financial Sector

KakaoBank is Korea’s leading internet-only bank and a pioneer in mobile banking. Living up to its motto, “A New Beginning for Banking,” KakaoBank has spearheaded IT-driven innovation in the Korean financial industry and is now ushering in a new wave of transformation in the AI era. In 2024, KakaoBank opened a dedicated AI data center as part of its preparations, and in collaboration with Microsoft, it launched Korea’s first Azure OpenAI-powered conversational AI Search service in May 2025, followed by the release of its AI Financial Calculator service in June. These services, designed to enhance customer convenience and improve financial accessibility, align closely with KakaoBank’s vision of becoming “my personal bank, easier and more frequent to use in daily life.”

The First Conversational AI Search and Financial Calculator Services in the Korean Financial Sector

On May 26, 2025, KakaoBank launched its Azure OpenAI-powered AI Search service within its mobile app. Customers can now ask natural, conversational questions about KakaoBank services or general financial knowledge, and receive AI-generated answers that include related service links, original content, and even follow-up question suggestions, all in one place. Questions related to KakaoBank’s products and services are answered based on documents prepared in advance by KakaoBank to ensure higher accuracy, while inquiries about general financial knowledge are addressed using generative AI.

The AI Search service is one of the two in-app mobile services KakaoBank developed under Korea’s Financial Services Commission's Innovative Financial Services designation, enabling customers to easily access financial information in a mobile environment and seamlessly transition to related services. The other service, also built on Azure OpenAI’s generative AI, is the AI Financial Calculator.

Launched on June 23, 2025, the AI Financial Calculator allows customers to easily calculate interest on major deposit products, determine required contributions for savings goals, estimate loan interest and borrowing limits, calculate early repayment fees, and access exchange rates for 12 major currencies, including value comparisons between foreign currencies and the Korean won, as well as overseas remittance estimates. All responses are provided by generative AI, enabling customers to conveniently plan and make informed financial decisions directly within the KakaoBank mobile app. 

K.K. Seo, Leader of Conversational AI Service Team at KakaoBank, commented on the initial performance of these two AI services:

"First of all, we are seeing a substantial improvement in customer experience, as evidenced by increased transactions. The customer click-through rate to product pages from the AI Search service is as high as 30%, which is a remarkable achievement."

Innovation through Collaboration with Microsoft and Azure OpenAI

Zane Kim, Manager of AI Technology Strategy Team at KakaoBank, explained the background and process of collaborating with Microsoft in developing these two AI services:

“The financial sector faces strict restrictions on cloud-based services. But being designated as an Innovative Financial Service let us experiment in a regulatory sandbox. This let us use Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI API and build on their proven performance and stability. Microsoft’s technical excellence and agile support were a tremendous help.”

In developing AI-based services, stability is critical, but cost is also an important practical consideration. Microsoft offers Azure OpenAI customers the ability to allocate throughput based on Provisioned Throughput Units (PTUs), providing predictable costs, with options for monthly and annual reservations to reduce overall spending through flexible billing.

Jiwook Lim, Manager of AI Product Development Team at KakaoBank, praised the answer quality and reliability of Azure OpenAI models:

“Above all, the answer quality of the OpenAI models was exceptional. And it was particularly attractive that Microsoft’s PTU offering ensured we could maintain this level of quality and performance in a stable way. In addition, integrating with various Azure services significantly enhanced the overall stability of the services KakaoBank launched.”

Meanwhile, Alan Choi, Digital Specialist at Microsoft supporting KakaoBank’s AI service development, shared his perspective on the collaboration:

“At Microsoft, we value security as much as service quality. When new services launch or updates reach customers, we communicate quickly and work on improvements. We hope KakaoBank’s AI services will be firmly established and look forward to supporting their evolution while fostering growth for both companies.”

KakaoBank’s Roadmap for AI-Driven Financial Service Innovation

K.K. Seo stated that the launch of the AI Search and AI Financial Calculator services marks an important milestone in KakaoBank’s roadmap for AI-driven financial service innovation:

“As AI advances, we expect more diverse services to emerge. Our AI Search and Financial Calculator lay the foundation. While we now focus on KakaoBank’s products, we aim to support broader aspects of our customers’ financial lives. Ultimately, we seek to grow beyond a banking app into a ‘comprehensive financial platform,’ with AI at the core.”

KakaoBank plans to leverage its close partnership with Microsoft to actively utilize stable cloud infrastructure and advanced AI technologies, driving ongoing customer-centric innovation. Through these efforts, KakaoBank aims to establish itself as the most trusted digital financial partner throughout customers’ financial journeys and continue contributing to improving financial accessibility nationwide.