Payoneer seeks to bring 1 trillion won into Korea

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Payoneer seeks to bring 1 trillion won into Korea

Payoneer, a financial services company specializing in international money transfers, set up a Korean corporation to take advantage of the country’s strong exports, the company said on Tuesday.

The New York-based company’s services make cross-border transactions between businesses - such as those between Amazon and vendors or Airbnb and hosts - simpler. Payoneer, founded in 2005, provides virtual accounts where users can make payments with different currencies without having to make local bank accounts.

“Launching a Payoneer office in Korea shouldn’t come as a surprise,” said Eyal Moldovan, senior vice president of Payoneer. “Korea is a fast-growing economy with 51 million populations and it is the seventh-biggest e-commerce market.”

Patrick de Courcy, head of the digital payment company’s Asia Pacific business, said that Korea was attractive due to its unique products that the country is successfully exporting.

Before it founded its Korean office, tens of thousands of Korean vendors were using Payoneer, according to the company. About half of the users were selling goods on online marketplaces like Amazon, and the rest were room rental service hosts or freelance workers receiving payments from overseas.

While the financial services company’s users are spread over more than 200 countries, it only has 15 global operations, with Korea its most recent. The Korean operation is headed by Lee Woo-yong, who has worked for Google in marketing and merchandising for the past decade.

Lee said the company will differentiate its services from other payment platforms by offering enterprise resources planning systems to small firms and vendors based on data accumulated through payments. That way, smaller companies can effectively manage inventories and account books.

Lee’s short-term goal is hitting 1 trillion won ($940 million) in foreign currency flowing into Korea through Payoneer accounts and localizing Payoneer’s service for Korean consumers.


BY KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]
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