Card Approval Amount in Q2 This Year 224.6 Trillion Won... Up 9.9% YoY

COVID-19 Base Effect and Expanded Vaccination Drive Recovery in Consumer Sentiment

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] As consumer sentiment recovered in the second quarter of this year, the amount of card approvals also increased by nearly 10%.

On the 29th, the Credit Finance Association's Credit Finance Research Institute announced the '2021 Second Quarter Card Approval Performance,' reporting that the total card approval amount in the second quarter of this year reached 244.6 trillion KRW, an increase of 9.9% compared to the previous year. During the same period, the number of approvals also rose by 5.7% to 5.94 billion transactions.

A representative from the Credit Finance Association explained, "The increase in card approval amounts appears to be due to the base effect from the sluggish card approval growth in the second quarter of last year, the expansion of vaccinations, and the easing of social distancing measures, which overall led to a recovery in consumer sentiment."

In fact, during the second quarter of this year, the relatively eased social distancing measures were maintained, resulting in some recovery in sales for offline shopping and industries related to gatherings and leisure.

Additionally, the demand for purchases through non-face-to-face and online channels continued to grow, and the normalization of corporate external activities led to an increase in corporate card usage, contributing to a relatively high growth rate in card approval amounts. The corporate card approval amount in the second quarter reached 45.4 trillion KRW, a sharp increase of 22.9% compared to the previous year. The number of approvals also rose by 13.3% to 360 million transactions during the same period.

By industry, wholesale and retail trade (12.5%), transportation (29.9%), and education services (18.5%) showed growth. In the case of wholesale and retail trade, the increase in non-face-to-face and online purchases, along with the recovery in sales at department stores and large marts, led to an increase in card approval amounts. The transportation sector saw a 29.9% surge compared to the previous year due to the base effect from decreased use of transportation means in the second quarter of last year. However, compared to the second quarter of 2019, it decreased by 53.2%, indicating that it is difficult to consider this a full recovery. The accommodation and food service sector decreased by 4.5% compared to the previous year due to restrained travel, movement, and company dinners, but the rate of decline narrowed compared to the first quarter.

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