South Korea Cards & Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2023

South Korea Cards & Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2023

Summary

The 'South Korea Cards & Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2023' report provides detailed analysis of market trends in South Korea's cards and payments industry. It provides values and volumes for a number of key performance indicators in the industry, including cash, credit transfers, direct debits, cards, and cheques during the review-period (2015-19e).

The report also analyzes various payment card markets operating in the industry, and provides detailed information on the number of cards in circulation, transaction values and volumes during the review-period and over the forecast-period (2019e-23f). It also offers information on the country's competitive landscape, including the market shares of issuers and schemes.

The report brings together The research, modeling, and analysis expertise to allow banks and card issuers to identify segment dynamics and competitive advantages. The report also covers details of regulatory policy and recent changes in the regulatory structure.

The 'South Korea Cards & Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2023' report provides top-level market analysis, information and insights into South Korea's cards and payments industry, including -

• Current and forecast values for each market in South Korea's cards and payments industry, including debit and credit cards.
• Detailed insights into payment instruments including cash, credit transfers, direct debits, cheques, and cards. It also, includes an overview of the country's key alternative payment instruments.
• E-commerce market analysis.
• Analysis of various market drivers and regulations governing South Korea's cards and payments industry.
• Detailed analysis of strategies adopted by banks and other institutions to market debit and credit cards.

Scope

• In November 2018, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced new reforms reducing the merchant service fees on credit cards, effective from February 2019, in a move to lower the credit card acceptance costs among smaller merchants. The fee was lowered by 0.65 percentage points (pp) to 1.4% per transaction for merchants with an annual revenue of between KRW500m ($0.4m) and KRW1.0bn ($0.9m). For merchants with a revenue of between KRW1.0bn ($0.9m) and KRW3.0bn ($2.7m), it was decreased by 0.61pp to 1.6%. The reduced costs will further encourage credit card acceptance among smaller merchants.
• In order to lower the acceptance costs of electronic payments for small merchants, the South Korean government introduced a new QR-based payment service called Zero Pay in December 2018. The solution was introduced in the pilot phase and the official launch is expected during the second half of 2019. The service enables merchants to accept payments with no transaction costs, as the money gets directly transferred from the customers’ bank accounts to the merchants’ bank accounts. To make a payment, a customer needs to scan the Zero Pay QR code displayed at the merchant store using payment applications or mobile banking apps. Seeing Zero Pay as a threat to their card business, card issuers including Shinhan Card, BC Card, and Lotte Card formed an alliance in January 2019 to launch their own common QR code service called QRpay. The network system offers reduced acceptance costs for merchants and enables card holders to make QR-based mobile payments and earn reward points and discounts at the same time.
• Digital-only banks have also made inroads into South Korea during the review period. K Bank, the country's first digital-only bank, was launched in April 2017. The bank offers a diverse product portfolio including current and deposit accounts, debit cards, insurance, loans, and remittances. Another digital bank called KakaoBank was introduced in the July of the same year, offering various products and services including bank accounts, debit cards, loans, and remittances. To further encourage investments in digital-only banks, the FSC approved a Special Act on the Establishment and Operation of Online-only Banks, which was effective from January 17, 2019. The new act enables technology companies to own up to a 34% stake in digital-only banks. This aims to boost investment and innovation led by ICT companies in the banking sector.

Reasons to Buy

• Make strategic business decisions, using top-level historic and forecast market data, related to South Korea's cards and payments industry and each market within it.
• Understand the key market trends and growth opportunities in South Korea's cards and payments industry.
• Assess the competitive dynamics in South Korea's cards and payments industry.
• Gain insights into marketing strategies used for various card types in South Korea.
• Gain insights into key regulations governing South Korea's cards and payments industry.