KB Kookmin Card has been ramping up its efforts to restore its status as the No. 1 credit card company in Korea.
In order to grow into the top financial platform company, it set out to find a new growth driver.
To this end, KB Kookmin Card plans to try to diversify its portfolio this year by strengthening its global business capabilities and developing more advanced KB Pay services.
KB Kookmin Card CEO Lee Chang-kwon, who took office earlier this year, is taking the initiative in making this change.
“We must prepare well for a time of upheaval, restore our status as the No. 1 credit card company in Korea and lead the Korean credit card market as the No. 1 financial platform company,” Lee stressed in his inaugural address.
“We should turn a crisis into an opportunity’ through thorough preparations for the future.”
KB Kookmin Card racked up 421.1 billion won in net profit last year, a 29 percent increase from 2020.
This is largely because credit card usage increased last year due to the consumption recovery trend and continuous efforts to boost cost efficiency.
In the global sector, KB Kookmin Card plans to devise strategies to maintain its growth in overseas markets, such as Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos, amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.
The company is accelerating its overseas expansion strategy by establishing the Global Business Headquarters at the beginning of this year.
At the same time, it is also focusing on strengthening salespeople and IT infrastructure of its subsidiaries in Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.
KB Kookmin Card is expanding its global business investment as the company’s overseas subsidiaries enjoyed strong growth in the past three years since it entered the overseas market.
Last year, Kookmin Card’s three overseas subsidiaries posted 15.9 billion won in net profits, a turnaround from 2.8 billion won in losses in 2020.
By overseas subsidiaries, Cambodia’s KB Daehan Specialized Bank recorded net profit of 8.4 billion won, a 1,300 percent increase from 600 million won in 2020.
During the same period, the net profit of KB Finansia Multi Finance, an Indonesian subsidiary, stood at 6.1 billion won, an increase of 1,200 percent from 200 million in the previous year.
Thailand’s KB J Capital incorporated as a subsidiary in 2021, logged a net profit of 1.4 billion won in 2021.
Last year, KB Kookmin Card’s overseas subsidiaries totaled 925.5 billion won in assets. This was a 21-fold increase from 2018, the first year of its entry into overseas markets.
The Korean credit card issuer which operates businesses such as general loans and automobile installment financing, expanded its used car business in the global market, driving its earnings growth in 2021.
KB Kookmin Card is also expanding investment funding support to overseas corporations. It is investing 248.8 billion won in its Cambodian subsidiary and 469.1 billion won in its Indonesian subsidiary.
The Thai subsidiary received 230.8 billion won in investment funds. In the future, the amount of investment funds is expected to expand as KB Kookmin Card will ramp up investment in global businesses that have contracted after the start of the pandemic.
KB Pay, the group’s flagship financial platform, is essential to transforming KB Kookmin Card into the number one financial platform company. KB Pay has been continuously upgraded.
Now it is moving forward to realizing its goal of becoming a general digital platform that integrates non-financial services beyond financial services.
In the meantime, KB Kookmin Card announced on April 11 that it will launch three types of special Legoland Discount Card in partnership with Legoland Korea Resort scheduled to open in Korea on May 5.
An image of special Legoland Discount Card KB Kookmin Card issued in partnership with Legoland Korea Resort.
In addition, an open event will be held in which limited edition Lego vouchers and Legoland vouchers are provided as prizes as joint marketing between KB Kookmin Card and Legoland.
KB Kookmin Legoland Card provides 10 percent discounts on Legoland Korea Resort Park and Hotels, a 5 percent to 10 percent discount on services for deliveries and snacks, shopping and educational services, so long as a customer spent more than 400,000 won with the credit card in the previous month.
