KB Card signed an MOU with Union Pay of China on April 6 on cooperation in mobile card issuance and payment settlement services, which will help the Korean credit card firm make advancement into the credit card market in China. The signing took place at the LGU+ Yongsan office in Seoul. Dignitaries present at the signing, included Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo of the KB Financial Group, President Kim Duk-soo of KB Card, President Ki Hwayong of the Union Pay and Union Pay International, and Vice Chairman Lee Sang-cheol of LGU+, among others, to confirm their cooperation on such matters as the issuance of credit cards and payment settlement service. President Kim of KB Card has been named to serve for another term as CEO of the credit card firm in February.
The MOU will help the customers of both KB Card and LGU+ to settle payments in China with credit cards that have the Union Pay brand names printed on them through the NFC terminals installed at the Union Pay membership shops and stores in China.
This is the first time that Union Pay has operated the NFC-type mobile credit card issuance service outside China, which would make a great contribution to expanding the fintech market in both Korea and China in the days ahead.
Currently, Union Pay has a network of 5 million NFC-type payment settlement card issuance services and the cooperation. Union Pay is essential for any foreign credit card company that wants to enter China’s NFC-type credit card payment settlement market, as the Chinese company has its own specifications in mobile payment settlement service.
President Kim of KB Card said the MOU will be a great help for Korean credit card firms to make advancements into China’s credit card market, as it will pave the way for KB Card to enter China’s mobile credit card market and cooperation with Union Pay’s partners will help the introduction of the fintech service in China.
KB Card, spun off from KB Kookmin Bank in 2011, has seen its total assets grow to 10.6 trillion won as of June 30 with 18.82 million cardholders, ranking it second in the credit card industry.
The credit card company began to turn a profit from 2012 when it kicked off the terminal installment bond factoring and its operation as the window for securing funds through the issuance of bonds for KB Financial Group as one of its major affiliates, another strong point going for the credit card company.
KB Card has been especially outstanding with its check card operation, with around a 20 percent share of the market after the NH Check Card, the leader of the market.
Last December, KB Card issued the KB Hoon-min-jeong-eum check card, a Korean brand name, which now totals around 700,000 cards. The card company followed it up by issuing another Korean-name brand card in July, the KB Kookmin Nuri Card, which is an integration-type card, to join the KB Hoon-min-jeong-eum card to complete the company’s plan to build a structure of Korean-name brand cards based on the Korean alphabet — hanguel.
KB Card’s smart reform is also noteworthy in its successful operation, which is like creating an image for a company so it can easily set up strategies in fusion with IT to add to the traditional image it already has.
KB Koomin Card’s app card, K-Motion, is a new mobile card that can settle payments without an application. The number of accounts has already surpassed 100,000 since its launch last September, drawing the market’s attention.
Last July, the company introduced the KB Wise Wallet, a mobile electronic wallet that can provide various services that KB Kookmin Card can, such as app cards, memberships, coupons, benefits of member shops and shopping mall services at the same time.
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