Samsung Card, which is competing with Shinhan Card for the top position in the card industry, has taken a step ahead in entering the corporations information inquiry business. Recently, card companies are expanding their business areas into the corporations information inquiry business along with the expansion of the corporate card market.
According to the financial sector on the 30th, Samsung Card recently submitted its application for the main license to the financial authorities for the corporations information inquiry business.
The corporations information inquiry business is the task of collecting, analyzing, and processing credit information of corporations and legal entities, which was added as an auxiliary business for card companies with the amendment of the Specialized Credit Finance Business Act Enforcement Decree. Card companies are evaluated as being optimized for entering the corporations information inquiry business as they secure payment data from a variety of merchants.
Since the beginning of this year, Samsung Card and Shinhan Card have been preparing to enter the corporations information inquiry business. They added the corporations information inquiry business to their business objectives in the articles of incorporation during the shareholders' meeting in March. In a situation where they are facing limits in expanding revenue due to a decline in merchant commission rates, economic downturn, and reliance on loan products such as card loans, they have devised a strategy to establish future growth engines through the corporations information inquiry business. Although they changed their articles of incorporation simultaneously, the licensing process from the financial authorities was quicker for Samsung Card.
An industry insider said, "Card companies possess vast payment information and have the ability to analyze it, but the ways to utilize it are limited," adding, "They are contemplating various ways to increase profitability using big data, such as the corporations information inquiry business."
Shinhan Card and Samsung Card are competing for the top spot in the industry. Shinhan Card, which was the industry leader, reported a revenue of 1.4692 trillion won and a net profit of 136.9 billion won in the first quarter. This represents a decrease of 3.46% and 26.27%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.
Samsung Card reported a revenue of 1.0674 trillion won and a net profit of 184.4 billion won. The net profit increased by 3.7% compared to the same period last year, surpassing Shinhan Card.
In last year's annual performance, Shinhan Card lost its number one position to Samsung Card. Shinhan Card had consistently maintained the number one position in terms of usage and revenue since 2014. However, in the fourth quarter of last year, a one-time expense of hundreds of millions of won due to the implementation of voluntary retirement caused the net profit to be only 19.4 billion won.
Ultimately, Samsung Card secured the top position in the industry based on annual results. Despite having no one-time factors in the first quarter of this year, Shinhan Card lost the number one spot to Samsung Card.