[1mm Financial Talk] Half a Year Since Launch... OpenPay Lacks Presence

Only One Added Six Months After Initial Launch
Half of Card Companies Still Not Participating...User Response Also Minimal
"Need to Pursue Data-Driven Collaboration Enhancement"

"Honestly, it seems that more people don’t know about OpenPay."

Despite being launched six months ago as a response to the 'pay war' among simple payment services, the OpenPay service introduced by credit card companies has yet to make a significant impact. Participation from card companies has been sluggish, and there are criticisms regarding the service’s lack of competitiveness.

According to industry sources on the 14th, four card companies?Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Lotte, and Hana Card?are participating in OpenPay, an app card interoperability service among card companies. This accounts for only half of the eight major domestic card companies. Since the initial launch in mid-December last year, only Lotte Card has joined additionally. BC Card, which was originally scheduled to participate in March this year, postponed its schedule to the second quarter, and as the second quarter is ending, there has been no further news. Woori Card has only stated that it is preparing to participate, with no specific timeline set. Samsung Card and Hyundai Card, ranked second and third in the industry, have yet to express any intention to join.

User response has also been minimal. Each card company is reluctant to disclose OpenPay user statistics. A representative from a major card company admitted, "It is difficult to find meaningful usage figures, and awareness is low," adding, "It seems that users are practically ignoring the service." The alliance formed by card companies to compete against IT industry players like Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, and Naver Pay appears to be dissolving just six months after its launch.

OpenPay is an open service proposed by card companies. It allows users to register and use cards from other companies within each card company’s application (app). The intention was to utilize the already launched card company apps as comprehensive payment platforms, similar to Naver Pay and Kakao Pay. However, not only is participation limited to half of the companies, but online payments with other companies’ cards are also not possible. Data-driven features such as various recommendations and notifications, which are strengths of card companies, do not apply to other companies’ cards. This is why the service is criticized as being half-baked.

Given these circumstances, there is little incentive for card companies to actively participate and grow the service. Small and medium-sized companies, in particular, seem to be participating reluctantly. A representative from a small card company said, "Large companies can promote their apps, which already function as platforms with many users, by adding small and medium-sized companies’ cards to enhance customer convenience and gain benefits," but added, "On the other hand, small and medium-sized companies suffer because they are allowing the use of large card companies’ products within their own barely established app ecosystems."

Ultimately, there are calls for card companies’ alliances to aim for more magnanimous and innovative services. Ji-Hong Park, a researcher at Hana Financial Management Research Institute, explained, "The greatest strength card companies have is payment data that covers both online and offline," adding, "If OpenPay services are built in a way that facilitates smooth sharing of payment data among card companies, participation in OpenPay will increase, and it will also help strengthen data-driven businesses across all card companies."

Photo by Getty Images Bank

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