KakaoBank Credit Card Launch Imminent

Partnership Methods with Four Card Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] Korea Kakao Bank (KakaoBank) credit card will be launched next week.

According to the financial sector on the 24th, KakaoBank plans to officially introduce and launch a credit card created in partnership with Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Samsung, and Citi Cards at an online press conference on the 27th, attended by CEO Yoon Ho-young and others.

Initially, KakaoBank considered entering the credit card market by obtaining a direct license. However, considering the overall sluggish market conditions, they shifted to a partnership model with existing card companies to reduce costs and minimize trial-and-error risks.

KakaoBank will be responsible for member recruitment and marketing, while the partner card companies will handle product development, issuance, and processing tasks such as transaction acquisition.

Based on the rapidly built customer base since its launch in 2017 and the proven strength in the check card market, KakaoBank expects the credit card to be a hit. As of the end of last month, KakaoBank has 12.01 million customers and has issued 11.5 million check cards.

Competition with fintech platform Toss is also noteworthy. Toss’s credit card, launched in partnership with Hana Card, succeeded with over 200,000 pre-registrations.

A KakaoBank official said, "We are focusing on continuously introducing services differentiated from existing credit cards."

An industry insider said, "With sufficiently high brand awareness and the familiarity of the platform and characters as weapons, the response is expected to be significant," adding, "It could act as a catalyst for the overall credit card market."

KakaoBank recorded a net profit of 13.7 billion KRW last year, turning a profit for the first time since its launch. After former co-CEO Lee Yong-woo left the company to enter politics, KakaoBank reorganized its leadership last month under sole CEO Yoon Ho-young.

CEO Yoon stated, "With the expansion of services and enhanced customer experience, we aim to realize 'Kabang First,' where KakaoBank is the first that comes to mind when thinking of 'mobile finance'." He plans to explain the specific meaning of the 'Kabang First Strategy' and this year’s management goals at the upcoming online conference.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.