Korea-based Samsung Card Co. Ltd. will enter the credit card market in Thailand by the middle of this year, the Korea Times newspaper reports.
Samsung intends create a joint venture with a local firm to establish a card business, and Samsung Card CEO Choi Doh-seok met with executives of a Thai firm recently in Seoul, according to the newspaper.
A Samsung official declined to comment to PaymentsSource.
While the newspaper did not disclose the name of the company, it indicated the potential partner is a firm with which Samsung does business already.
Samsung Life Co. Ltd. operates an insurance company in a joint venture with Bangkok-based Saha Pathana Inter-Holdings Ltd. Officials from Saha Pathana did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.
Samsung Card recorded 2.7 trillion won (US$3.03 billion) in revenues last year, down 6.9% from 2.9 trillion won in 2008. Net profit for 2009 more than doubled, however, to 603.8 billion won from 257.7 billion won, according to data from the Credit Finance Association of Korea.
