Hyundai Card Runs Alone... Solidifying Its Position as 3rd in Membership Numbers

Ranked 3rd in Individual Membership Size
Strong Performance in First Half
Net Profit Increased Alone While Other Card Companies Saw Double-Digit Decline
"Need to Secure Customers from Apple Pay and Link to Revenue"

Hyundai Card ranked third among full-service card companies in terms of individual membership numbers in the first half of this year. It appears to be growing by benefiting from the exclusive launch of Apple Pay. Its performance also stood out as the only full-service card company to avoid negative growth. However, since there is still a gap with KB Kookmin Card, which ranks third in net profit, it is analyzed that Hyundai Card must fully absorb the effects of attracting Apple Pay into its performance.

According to the Credit Finance Association on the 17th, Hyundai Card had 11.79 million individual members at the end of the first half of this year. Since May, it has maintained the third place among seven full-service card companies, surpassing KB Kookmin Card. The net increase in membership this year is overwhelming for Hyundai Card. It increased by 438,000 members, far surpassing KB Kookmin Card (275,000), Hana Card (245,000), Lotte Card (210,000), and Samsung Card (204,000). This is interpreted as the effect of concentrated interest following the exclusive domestic launch of Apple Pay in March.

Despite the challenging business environment, its performance also held up well. Consumption gradually recovered, but costs increased due to rising funding rates, causing most card companies' profits to slow compared to last year. According to the Financial Supervisory Service, as of the first half of this year, the net profit of eight full-service card companies including Shinhan, Samsung, KB Kookmin, Hyundai, Lotte, Hana, Woori, and BC Card totaled 1.4168 trillion won. This is a 12.8% (207.5 billion won) decrease compared to the same period last year. Revenue (total income) was 13.2182 trillion won, a 13.6% (1.5794 trillion won) increase from the first half of last year, but various costs increased even more sharply. Interest expenses and bad debt expenses increased by 692.8 billion won and 526.2 billion won respectively, causing total costs to rise by 17.8% (1.7869 trillion won) compared to the same period last year.

Among them, Hyundai Card recorded a net profit of 157.2 billion won in the first half of this year, a 1.0% increase compared to the first half of last year. This contrasts with other card companies such as Shinhan Card (-23.2%), KB Kookmin Card (-21.5%), Samsung Card (-8%), Woori Card (-38.7%), and Hana Card (-23.7%), which all saw declines. Lotte Card posted a net profit of 306 billion won, a 72.7% growth compared to the same period last year, but this was a temporary effect due to the sale of a subsidiary. Excluding this, Lotte Card's net profit also decreased by 39.1% compared to the first half of last year.

However, some view it as premature to fully settle into third place. In terms of net profit size, KB Kookmin Card still leads by about 35 billion won with 192.9 billion won. The scale of credit sales, a major revenue source for card companies, is also small. As of the first half, Hyundai Card's cash service and card loan balances were 444.1 billion won and 4.4679 trillion won respectively. In terms of card loan balances, the gap is large compared to industry leader Shinhan Card (8.0074 trillion won), as well as KB Kookmin Card (6.4923 trillion won) and Samsung Card (5.6298 trillion won). Rather, the gap is narrower with Lotte Card (4.325 trillion won), which ranks fifth.

It is interpreted that Apple Pay-linked customers, mainly in their 20s and 30s who prefer iPhones, rarely use the financial services of credit card companies. A card industry official said, "A solid weapon is needed to firmly settle the customers attracted through Apple Pay," adding, "The exclusive partnership with Apple Pay will eventually break, so Hyundai Card needs to prepare in advance if it wants to maintain its third place."

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