KakaoBank Expands Scope, Full-Scale Entry into Credit Card Market

KakaoBank is actively expanding its scope, including making a full-scale entry into the credit card market.

According to the financial sector on the 26th, KakaoBank recruited personnel related to its credit card project until the previous day. KakaoBank has been hiring developers to build the credit card business system, as well as business planners, card strategy planners, and service planners. KakaoBank stated, "We will expand payment services to credit cards and create a credit card that has never existed before."

KakaoBank is continuing preparations for the launch of its credit card service, including recruiting personnel. Since credit cards require various personnel such as system developers, it is expected that preparations will proceed step-by-step before undergoing the financial authorities' approval process. A KakaoBank official said, "We have not yet received preliminary approval," adding, "It will take some time until the launch."

Although KakaoBank has not had its own credit card until now, it confirmed positive signals for credit card entry through partnership credit cards. KakaoBank released credit cards in partnership with KB Kookmin, Samsung, Hana, and Woori Card, with the number of issued cards reaching 640,000 by the first quarter of this year, about a 12% increase compared to 570,000 in the fourth quarter of last year. Additionally, launching credit cards has the advantage of reducing dependence on interest income and increasing the proportion of fee income or non-interest income.

KakaoBank’s changed status also seems to have played a role in this decision. KakaoBank initially attempted to acquire a credit card business license at its launch in 2018 but gave up due to continued deficits and lack of capacity to compete in the credit card industry at that time. However, recently, KakaoBank has continued its growth trend, recording its highest-ever operating profit of 136.4 billion KRW in the first quarter of this year.

In addition to entering the credit card market, KakaoBank is accelerating efforts to expand its reach overseas. On the 16th, KakaoBank announced its entry into the Southeast Asian market by partnering with Thailand’s financial holding company SCBX. SCBX is the holding company of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), one of Thailand’s top three banks. KakaoBank plans to form a consortium with SCBX to obtain a license for a virtual bank, an internet-only bank equivalent, in Thailand. KakaoBank intends to successfully transplant its proven non-face-to-face financial technology and platform capabilities from the domestic market to Southeast Asia and expand its business base.

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