Users of KakaoTalk, the country’s most popular mobile messaging application, will be able to send money to their friends via the messenger as early as June.

Kakao, the operator of the app, said Friday it is in the last stage of preparation for the small-sum money transfer service, up to 100,000 won, in cooperation with banks.

“We are aiming to launch the service in June,” Lee Sir-goo, co-CEO of Kakao, said.

The company will partner with 15 banks and the Korea Financial Telecommunications & Clearings Institute (KFTC) for the service tentatively named “Bank Wallet Kakao.” But it has yet to have Hana Bank join the partnership.

The service is a KakaoTalk-linked version of Bank Wallet, a mobile money transfer system which the institute developed jointly with 16 banks here.

“If a Bank Wallet user sends money to another user, it is charged on the receiver’s mobile card. The receiver then can use the money for online money transactions or at offline shops having near-field communication (NFC) payment systems,” an official of the KFTC said.

“While a sender currently uses the phone number of the receiver when sending money, with KakaoTalk, the sender will select the receiver from his or her list of KakaoTalk friends,” he said.

The charged money can also be used in buying items for KakaoTalk or the operator’s other services such as Kakao Style and Kakao Music.

It is basically for transaction of a small amount of money, and Kakao and the participating banks plan to limit the amount to 100,000 won.

The KFTC official said the launching of the service has been delayed from the original schedule of March to strengthen cyber security.

“Security and customer information protection has become tighter especially after credit card companies and banks experienced data theft between December and January. We and the banks are double-checking the issue to prevent any possible data breach,” he said.

He said each bank is at a different stage in developing the related computer system, so some of them may not be able to start the service at the time of the launch.

Regarding security, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service are looking into whether the service has enough data protection measures.

The official said the service requires approval from both of the authorities, adding the launching of the service can be delayed if they need more time to confirm the security issue.

“The previous mobile payment system has not been widely used. But we expect this service to spread rapidly and bring a new era of financial transaction as almost all smartphone users in the country use KakaoTalk,” he said.