President Wi Sung-ho of Shinhan Card.

 The Code 9 Credit Card issued by Shinhan Card in May, 2014, based on the consumption patterns and lifestyles of its 22 million cardholders.(Photos:Shinhan Card)

Shinhan Card has been driving its so-called “Creative Finance” to keep its position as the top credit card company in Korea in terms of the number of cardholders and market share. The credit card company wants to heat up the financial world with its “Compassionate Finance,” which has been preached by Chairman Han Dong-woo ever since his arrival at Shinhan Financial Group in 2013.

In his New Year’s speech, President Wi Sung-ho said the credit card company should get away from past ways of thinking and practices by creating new chances this year and lead the creative challenges ahead. 

President Wi’s speech boils down to the company taking up Fintech to develop various credit card products or apps under intensive strategies with the credit card business having many areas to make use of IT in its operation. The company has been marketing its cards that can settle payments with smartphones, and the password payment settlement through smartphones. They do not require any other certifications to lead the application of the Fintech in its operations. The company aims to open up a new horizon in its operation, based on strategies drawn up from its Big Data collection according to the consumer patterns and lifestyles of its 22 million cardholders. The app card released onto the market in April 2013 has been acclaimed as a huge success with 5 million cards issued as of the end of last year. It removes the inconvenience that used to be involved with the issuance of cards, as well expenses associated with shops accepting the card. Card users now have only to install an app on their smartphones and register the card numbers in order to settle payments with the bar code, QR Code and NFC (short distance wireless) methods. Shops accepting the card should have to upgrade their card acceptance terminals. IPhones and android devices are compatable. Card users should not have to worry about the leaking of personal information on the card as it is not kept in the smartphones, and card numbers disappear after use.

Shinhan Card has been stressing the strategies based on Big Date because it can accumulate a large volume of human and material data that can be commercialized. 

The Code 9, introduced in May last year, was developed with consumer patterns and lifestyles of its 22 million customers, and therefore can provide the most appropriate services to cardholders. Consumers were also analyzed by age so services could fit their spending habits and lifestyles.

The company has also put on the market the “23.5” card — tailor-made for youths with a high penchant for spending, and the “S-Line” card for company employees who have a high planned consumption ratio.

The credit card company also plans to expand Big Data collection to the public area with its support of Seoul City’s tourism policy development. SK Telecom is a good example of support for public entities. 

Last year, the company was one of the business firms selected by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for its support of research on tourism services. The premise of the research project was to link data on foreign tourists’ use of credit cards with roaming communication data to analyze tourism patterns and trends. The results will be provided to tourist guide posts to develop new tourism courses.

Shinhan Card has been announcing the analysis of foreign tourists credit cards used in monetary terms in the country, along with Korea Cultural Information Center, which has been very useful to those in the tourism industry overall.

With such sound operational facilities accessible for its use, Shinhand Card will attempt to have good results this year from the so-called “Big to Great Strategy” announced last year.