K - Bank aims to post 1 st profit in 2020 : CEO SEOUL , April 5 ( Yonhap ) -- South Korea ' s first Internet - only bank , K - Bank , aims to report its first annual profit in 2020 , the bank ' s chief executive has said , as it seeks to make inroads into the credit card business . Shim Sung - hoon , CEO of K - Bank , said the bank is targeting to attract 400 , 000 active customers by the end of this year with deposits worth 500 billion won ( US $ 445 million ) . " Given the current situation on interest rates , I think that we could generate profits in 2020 , " Shim told Yonhap News Agency in an interview last Friday , two days before the bank launched its operations . Shim said the bank is reviewing plans to launch a credit card business " as early as possible . " In just two days since launching operations on Tuesday , K - Bank , formed by a consortium of KT Corp . , Woori Bank and 19 other companies , attracted more than 60 , 000 accounts . The pace of growth in K - Bank ' s customer base appears to be faster than originally expected . The average monthly number of new Internet banking accounts by the nation ' s 16 commercial banks stood at about 12 , 000 . Shim Sung - hoon , CEO of K - Bank , speaks during the launch ceremony of the bank on April 3 , 2017 ( Yonhap ) 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 loans with more favorable interest rates than the ones offered by traditional banks . Among the new services by the Internet banks are new credit assessments based on big data , wealth management by artificial intelligence systems and voice recognition banking services . One of key hurdles for K - Bank ' s potential growth is a law that bars a non - financial firm from owning more than 4 percent of stake at a financial firm . Shim urged lawmakers to ease the law to allow the bank to raise new capital . K - Bank was launched with a paid - in capital of 250 billion won . To increase lending and meet the capital adequacy ratio established under the Bank of International Settlements , Shim said the bank must decide on a capital hike before next year ' s annual shareholder meeting . ( END )