Sharp Decline in Credit Card Recruiters... 2,000 Left Last Year

Last year, 9,217 card solicitors
First time below 10,000 since 2013
Due to COVID-19 impact
Livelihood solicitors quit
Surge in non-face-to-face issuance

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] The number of credit card agents who quit last year exceeded 2,000. This is due to livelihood-type agents quitting their jobs amid the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and the increase in non-face-to-face issuance. As COVID-19 is likely to continue for the time being, the trend of decreasing agents is expected to continue this year as well.

According to the industry on the 12th, as of the end of last year, the number of credit card agents at seven specialized card companies (Shinhan, Samsung, KB Kookmin, Hyundai, Lotte, Woori, Hana Card) was counted at 9,217. After the number of card agents fell below 10,000 for the first time since the 2013 survey in October last year, it decreased by nearly 300 within two months.

In particular, the decrease in the number of card agents last year was steep. It decreased by a total of 2,165 compared to the previous year, which is nearly twice the 1,225 agents who decreased in 2019. The number of agents, which reached 22,872 in 2016, decreased to 16,658 in 2017, 12,607 in 2018, and 11,382 in 2019. After falling below 20,000 in 2017, the number also fell below 10,000 within three years.

The decrease in the number of agents was largely influenced by the increase in non-face-to-face issuance and cost reduction due to the deterioration of card companies' profitability. Above all, it is analyzed that COVID-19 had an impact last year. People avoided face-to-face contact due to COVID-19, making it impossible to conduct business activities in multi-use facilities such as large marts and department stores. Because of this, it is interpreted that card agents who felt threatened in their livelihoods left the industry.

An industry official said, "Due to the impact of COVID-19, the card agent exam was replaced by online additional education, lowering the threshold for card agents, but the number of people leaving the industry is increasing more than new inflows," adding, "It can be seen that livelihood-type workers who barely continued their business activities quit their jobs."

Non-face-to-face issuance also surged due to COVID-19. As of the first half of last year, the proportion of credit card applications through online channels at the seven specialized card companies was 37.9%, an increase of 11.3 percentage points compared to the end of the previous year. Online channels can return up to 100% of the annual fee benefits to customers, making them more preferred, especially among the 20s and 30s generation. On the other hand, offline channels through card agents are illegal if they provide benefits exceeding 10% of the annual fee.

However, opinions differ regarding the future trend of decreasing card agents. Even if the proportion of non-face-to-face issuance increases, demand through card agents still accounts for nearly 60-70%. Elderly people and others unfamiliar with digital technology may find non-face-to-face issuance difficult. In the case of Lotte Card, with the recent launch of the new product LOCA series, the existing card agents' title was changed to 'Lotte Card CLP (Credit Life Planner),' and they are recruiting card life planners with expertise.

Another industry official said, "The increase in the proportion of online card issuance is an irreversible trend," but added, "Since there is also demand through card agents, we are trying to operate both online and offline channels stably."

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