President Choi Ki-ui of KB Card said, “We will try to be the top company in a business area where we can do our best,” at an interview with the media on the occasion of the company’s first anniversary in March. 

The credit card business area that has been the best for KB Card has been the check card sector, which was led by Shinhan Card with such a large market share that it seemed unlikely for rivals to catch up. Choi, however, wanted KB Card to catch up with Shinhan Card and recently did, making it a leading credit card company in that area. 

The hard work has paid off and Choi won the Grand Award in the Credit Sector of the Korea Financial Grand Award for 2012 in recognition of the laudable achievement of stabilizing the financial market and the credit card market with the popular use of the check card.

KB Card posted 8.287 trillion won in sales in the first half of this year surpassing NH Card, the leader at the same time last year with 7.780 trillion won in sales, as well as Shinhan Card, the overall leader in the credit card business.

KB Card’s enviable achievement is owed to Choi who insisted on a “selection and concentration” strategy, which led the company to focus on young cardholders with marketing programs geared toward them as well to raise the image of the card brand. The card company introduced a new credit card called the “Nori Card” to specifically to appeal to young people, which was greatly helped by the policies of the financial authorities to promote the use of the check card.

Furthermore, CEO Choi adamantly refused to comply with the demands of large customers of credit cards such as hotels, shopping outlets, and duty free shops to lower the fees charged by the card companies. He continued to insist on charging 2 percent fees for members such as golf clubs while other credit card firms bowed to the pressure to cut the fees to 1.5 percent.

The strategy for “One Card,” which has all kinds of benefits for credit card, has also been a genius move for Choi, cutting expenses for customers since they don’t have to get other cards to receive benefits.

KB Card’s “Haedam Card” has also been such an enormous success that other card companies have begun to issue similar cards. Choi’s One Card strategy has been able to catch two birds with one stone by saving both expenses and increasing earnings.

Choi recalled that he assembled all the card benefits in one card to cut costs of issuance and give benefits to customers so that the cardholders would primarily use the One Card, which would increase sales per card.

Last year, monthly per card sales amounted to 588,000 won, up 5 percent from 2010, and in the first half of this year, the figures stood at 585,000 won, similar to the same period last year. Per card sales increase is very hard to realize with competition among card companies growing stiffer month by month, leading the market to a saturation point.

In the meantime, CEO Choi, known for his tough way of doing business, also changed the commission system at credit card firms, which had been known as a “hot potato” in the credit card industry, and was the first step in reforming the culture of the industry.

Choi’s stubborn way of doing business also surprised the credit card industry when he decided to have the company fold the mobile settlement business, despite being chosen as the sole operator of the business, on the basis that the selection process had not been transparent after learning that the company paid expenses for the bidding as demanded by the large retail firms.