Standard Chartered Bank Korea released updates to its flagship mobile banking app “Self Bank” on Jan. 8, almost a year after the app was released.

The app is designed to allow its retail customers to buy banking services without visiting a brick-and-mortar branch.

Since the app was launched in February 2017, Standard Chartered Bank Korea has sold 53,000 products ranging from checking products, deposits, savings, credit cards, consumer loans to insurance through the app.

The update enables customers to get their identification verified through a code automatically sent by the bank to their account from other banks. Before the update, users had to wire 1,000 won ($0.9) to the newly-created account for a similar authentication process.

Another way of verification -- sending a photo of an identification card and make a video call with a bank employee -- remains valid after the update.

Users are also able to access the online banking service on weekends, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Previously, the service was only available on weekdays. Exceptions for the weekend service include a purchase of a foreign currency deposit account or a personal loan product.

Standard Chartered Bank Korea, a London-based banking group‘s unit in Seoul, owns 270 retail branches across the nation as of Thursday.

By Son Ji-hyoung 
(consnow@heraldcorp.com)