Financial Cards in South Korea

This report analyses the market for financial cards in South Korea. For the purposes of this report financial cards are defined as follows: Charge cards Credit cards Debit Cards E-Purse Retail Cards Smart Cards ATM cards are included in some tables in order to provide a contrast to the other figures, however, as they are used for cash withdrawals only, they are not specifically featured in this report. Credit cards present a complex situation due to the proliferation of co-branding. This means that there are a select number of major credit card companies, including MasterCard, Visa, and others whose cards are issued by a proliferation of other institutions. This report therefore examines both the markets in terms of the big credit card companies (some of whom, like Visa, don’t actually issue cards in their own right), and in terms of the credit card issuers. In addition, retail cards are all credit cards; however, as they tend to be a very specific sector, they have been excluded from all credit card figures and dealt with as a separate entity.