President Choi Ki-ui of KB Kookmin Card Co. is known for his tremendous business acumen. His dogged refusal to cut fees on the company’s credit cards for country clubs from 2 percent to 1.5 percent, while other credit card firms agreed to the cut, is an outstanding example of his way of doing business.

The financial authorities criticized the other credit card firms for giving special favors to the rich golf clubs while not giving a thing to the poor credit card users, namely small business owners.

The credit card operators hurriedly called on the golf clubs to negotiate the fees, except Kookmin Card, which did not give in to the golf clubs demand to cut the fees. The talks with Sejong Country Club are also a good example of his toughness for not giving into the country club’s demand to cut the credit card fees.

Choi 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.

He called in all members of the Kookmin Card team to hold talks on fee reductions with shops or stores that deal with the credit card firm and told them to get tough and not give in to their demands, taking advantage of their scale of business, and even refusing to renew the memberships of those whose demands seemed too outrageous. About 1,000 member firms or stores including supermarkets take up more than half of the card firm’s business, making Choi’s moves seem a bit out of bounds.

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.

Choi chided the officers who reported to him that the company’s selection was very good news because of the way the selection process went.

Up until recent months, commissions were paid to those who got new credit card customers for their companies so much so that the number of new credit cardholders had been more important than the amounts spent with credit cards. But Choi changed all that; he drastically cut the commission paid per new card, which was close to 100,000 won each, and raised the commission for those who got new cardholders who use the cards the most. A number of rival credit card firms such as Hyundai, Samsung, and Shinhan followed suit after much hesitation.

Last year, Kookmin Card kicked off the company’s operation in the check card market ahead of its rivals who were reluctant to take up that line of business for fear that they couldn’t make money. Kookmin Credit Card has been leading the market ever since its entry into the check card market.

Choi also had his hand in Kookmin Cards’s “Heidam Card,” which has all kinds of benefits for cardholders and has been doing so well in the market that similar cards are being issued by other card providers.

Choi told reporters that when other credit card companies say credit cards are having a rough time, they ought to check if they have been doing their utmost to be successful and stop blaming others for their poor operations.