Financial Cards and Payments in South Korea: New research report available at Fast Market Research

Financial cards and payments sees continuous growth in 2015

Financial cards and payments recorded sound transaction growth during the review period. The number of financial cards in circulation also rose. Although the number of personal credit cards and store cards continued to decrease in 2015, debit cards, commercial credit cards, ATM cards and pre-paid cards saw increases. Retail value sales also increased in 2015. Debit cards saw the strongest retail value sales growth while open loop pre-paid cards posted declines throughout the review period.

Debit cards sees the highest transaction volume and value growth in 2015

As the government’s financial policies remained more favourable for debit cards than credit cards in South Korea, many consumers preferred to use debit cards to take advantage of a high tax deduction rate. Also, they can easily track and manage purchasing patterns with debit cards and reduce unexpected consumption or unconscious overspend when using credit cards. Open loop pre-paid card users have also moved to debit cards due to their features and benefits. Although credit card players aggressively marketed their products to take advantage of higher transaction fees, more consumers are showing a preference for debit cards over credit cards.

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Shinhan Card leads in terms of cards in circulation and retail value sales

Shinhan Card Co Ltd leads financial cards and payments. The company’s retail value share increased in 2014. The player is an innovator as it constantly develops financial technologies and introduces the latest products to the market. In 2015, Shinhan Card introduced Smart Watch Services in South Korea, thereby leading the competition in wearable devices in financial services. The company offered financial application services, such as Shinhan App Card and Smart Manager through smart watch devices. These products and services allow consumers to make purchases and track financial information through their smart watch services without using smartphones. In addition, the player constantly introduced innovative products in debit cards and credit cards to target specific customers and realise sustainable growth. Shinhan Card Ltd is set to lead financial cards and payments in South Korea during the forecast period.

Spend per transaction suffers due to the micropayment trend

Spend per transaction was undermined during the review period. Micropayments became increasingly significant in credit card and debit card transactions in South Korea. The numbers of debit cards and credit cards per capita were high and consumers in South Korea frequently used their financial cards even for small purchases. There were also emerging payment systems through mobile devices, which allowed consumers to conveniently and frequently make micropayments in the review period.

Healthy growth is expected over the forecast period

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