Authorities Draw Regulatory Sword... Naver and KakaoPay's Bold Move to Lower Fees

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Naver Pay and Kakao Pay are lowering commission rates for small and medium-sized businesses. For small businesses, Naver Pay is reducing the rate by 0.2 percentage points, and Kakao Pay by 0.3 percentage points. This move is interpreted as an effort to align with government policies following regulatory actions targeting big tech companies by lowering fees.

According to the financial sector on the 31st, merchants and card companies have criticized that big tech simple payment commissions are higher than card commissions. While card merchant fees have been repeatedly lowered by financial authorities every three years, Naver and Kakao Pay merchant fees have not been regulated by the authorities. Previously, the Financial Services Commission decided to reduce the credit card commission rate for small merchants with annual sales under 300 million KRW from 0.8% to 0.5%, effective from this day last year. This has led to ongoing voices in the financial sector about "regulatory discrimination."

The authorities have also begun taking concrete steps. On the 26th, at the 'Financial Platform Meeting' held at the Bankers Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul, Jeong Eun-bo, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, stated, "We will ensure that simple payment fees are calculated and charged based on reasonable standards and will establish a fee disclosure system." Governor Jeong emphasized, "While fees should be determined by the market, I believe there needs to be an information channel that allows consumers to compare fees."

On the same day as Governor Jeong's remarks, Naver Financial and Kakao Pay announced fee reductions one after another. Naver Financial stated that from the 31st, when card fees are lowered, Naver Pay fees will be further reduced. For small businesses, fees will be lowered by 0.2 percentage points compared to the existing Naver Pay fees, and for medium-sized businesses, fees will be reduced by 0.15 to 0.05 percentage points depending on the scale. Naver Financial explained that for small businesses, the order management fee will decrease from 2% to 1.8%, and the payment fee from 1.1% to 0.9%. Kakao Pay will also reduce fees by 0.3 percentage points for small businesses and by 0.2 to 0.1 percentage points for medium-sized businesses, in line with the credit card fee reduction standards. A Kakao Pay official explained, "This decision is in line with the government's policy to reduce card fees and is aimed at coexistence with small business owners."

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