South Korea’s financial regulator expects the value of mobile payment transactions to more than double in 2018 to KRW27.9 trillion ($25 billion).

The Financial Supervisory Service told JoongAng Daily the value of transactions hit KRW11.6 trillion in the first five months of 2018, almost equal to the KRW12 trillion-worth of transactions recorded in 2017 as a whole.

Korea’s mobile payments market is dominated by two companies, Toss and Kakao Pay, with an estimated combined market share of 95 per cent by transaction figures from the end of May 2018. The brands each count huge international payment giants among their backers.

In 2017 Kakao Pay received a $200 million funding boost from Alipay parent Ant Financial as part of the latter’s drive to increase exposure to markets outside China through partnerships with local providers.

During the year, Toss parent Viva Republica received an undisclosed amount from PayPal, partly to fuel the payment company’s move into wider financial services.