[2020 National Audit] Card Companies Earned 200 Billion KRW in Fees from Disaster Relief Fund Transactions

Min Hyung-bae MP "Card Companies Need to Return Profits to Society"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] It has been revealed that card companies earned commission fees amounting to 200 billion KRW from cards used during the distribution of disaster relief funds.

According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Min Hyung-bae, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the commission fees earned by card companies from cards used during the first round of disaster relief fund distribution totaled 196.748 billion KRW.

From January to August this year, the amount of disaster relief funds used via cards reached 14.9891 trillion KRW. Credit cards accounted for 7.4255 trillion KRW, check cards for 3.4165 trillion KRW, and prepaid cards for 4.147 trillion KRW.

The institution that earned the most commission fees was NH Nonghyup Bank (46.27 billion KRW). Shinhan Card and KB Kookmin Card also earned 40.73 billion KRW and 24.71 billion KRW respectively. Samsung Card, Woori Card, and Hyundai Card each generated commission fees exceeding 10 billion KRW.

Representative Min stated, “Card companies not only gained commission fees but also obtained additional benefits such as various information including the number of household members other than the head of the household, which can aid their business operations, yet they likely did not incur significant expenses such as operating costs. From the perspective of sharing the burden appropriately in line with the purpose of distributing disaster relief funds, it is necessary for card companies to return their profits to society.”