[Card Fee Reform] Go Seung-beom "4.7 Trillion Won Reduction Possible"

"Adjustments to Reduce Commission Burden on Small Franchisees"

Seung-beom Ko, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] On the 23rd, Go Seung-beom, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, stated, "As a result of calculating the eligible costs, the possible amount to reduce the burden of card fees is 690 billion KRW. Considering the 220 billion KRW reduction in merchants' fee burden since 2018 through the expansion of preferential fee rate application, the amount reduced through fee rate adjustment is 470 billion KRW."

Chairman Go said this during his opening remarks at the ruling party-government meeting on card fee reform held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building, adding, "We will adjust the preferential fee rates so that merchants of smaller scale can have a greater reduction in their fee burden."

Chairman Go explained, "We have gathered opinions from stakeholders in various ways to reform card fees," and added, "The government has legally and accounting-wise fairly and reasonably calculated the costs that card merchants should bear based on the principle of eligible costs."

The card fee system was introduced in 2012 through the amendment of the Specialized Credit Finance Business Act, establishing a fee system based on eligible costs. Every three years, the eligible costs are recalculated to prepare card fee reform plans. Since 2012, the preferential fee rates have been recalculated three times, and currently, compared to before the introduction of the eligible cost system, the annual fee burden on merchants has decreased by about 2.4 trillion KRW.

Chairman Go stated, "The card industry is facing difficulties in earning profits from its core business of credit sales, and concerns have been raised that consumer benefits may also be reduced," and expressed, "Therefore, we will form a task force (TF) centered on consumers, merchants, and the card industry to begin discussions on improving the fee recalculation system."

He also added, "We will promote institutional improvements to strengthen competitiveness so that card companies can grow into comprehensive platform businesses covering payment, financial product recommendation, fund management, and marketing."

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