KB Financial Group has spun off its KB Kookmin Card credit card unit to help boost the program’s card base and to develop more financial products, a spokesperson for the South Korea-based company tells PaymentsSource.
The firm, officially spun off on March 2, had operated as a separate unit of Kookmin Bank since 2003. “Kookmin Card joined up with [Kookmin Bank] after the credit card crisis,” notes to an official at the Credit Finance Association of Korea, an umbrella organization of card issuers, lenders and insurers. “It will be interesting to see how they will try to take the No. 1 spot now.”
Shinhan Card Co. Ltd. leads the South Korean card market with a 25% share of the total cardholders, while Kookmin Card occupies the second position with a 15% share, the official says.
To grow as a company, KB Kookmin Card plans to work with Kookmin Bank to set up a system in which cardholders can pay back financial loans with card-reward points, the KB Financial Group spokesperson says. “A customer that borrows 100 million won (US$88,600 0r 63,900 euros) or more from Kookmin Bank will have the option of paying 500,000 won of the principal with card points,” he says.
In addition, the card company will launch financial products tied to sales financing, insurance, travel-package sales and telemarketing to help boost card issuance, the spokesperson says.
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