Jeong Wankyu, President of the Credit Card Association, "Will Take Steps to Improve Franchise Fees and Regulations"

Expansion of Subsidiary Investment Scope, Ancillary Business, and Promotion of New Payment Settlement Projects

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] On the 6th, Jeong Wan-gyu, the newly appointed chairman of the Credit Finance Association, cited regulatory improvements for fair competition with big tech companies and improvements to the credit card merchant fee system as immediate tasks for the industry to strengthen core business competitiveness.

Chairman Jeong held a press conference at the association's main auditorium in Jung-gu, Seoul, in the morning and stated, "Ultimately, looking ahead to the next 5, 10, and 20 years, we will focus on how our credit finance industry can be chosen by the public and acquire new growth engines as we move forward."

Regarding regulatory improvements in the financial industry, Chairman Jeong said, "We will strive to improve the system so that credit finance companies can compete fairly with competitors such as big tech companies in a broad field. For example, if there are restrictions on pursuing platform business, we will request system improvements and relationship establishment so that credit finance companies can compete with non-financial platform companies, and we will also proceed with consultations." He added, "The association will take the lead in improving regulations related to ancillary tasks so that credit finance companies can perform innovative work that meets consumer expectations."

On strengthening core business competitiveness, Chairman Jeong emphasized, "The credit finance industry operates its business with its own capital as it lacks deposit-taking functions, but recently, due to interest rate hikes, there are difficulties in capital procurement. Ultimately, since sustainable profit generation and maintaining soundness are very important, we will take the lead in supporting the credit finance industry to generate stable profits." He identified tasks for this, including ▲ improving the credit card merchant fee system to enhance credit sales profitability for card companies ▲ expanding the scope of subsidiary investments and concurrent/ancillary businesses for innovative service development ▲ expanding investment sectors in new technology finance.

Regarding the creation of new growth engines in the credit finance business area, Chairman Jeong pointed to ▲ financial data ▲ payments ▲ overseas expansion, stating, "The Electronic Financial Transactions Act is currently pending in the National Assembly, and discussions on the concept and scope of payment business are expected during the legislative process. In this process, we will strive to enable the credit finance industry to create new revenue bases." He also said, "Unlike banks, securities, and insurance businesses that require licenses to operate overseas, credit finance companies can expand overseas more easily, so we will actively support this."

Regarding the recent issues of real estate project financing (PF) in the secondary financial sector such as capital companies due to the real estate market downturn, he said, "Smaller companies can be shaken by even small winds," adding, "I understand that supervisory authorities are working to prevent real estate market insolvency from spreading to the financial market through such processes. We will assist where possible and raise concerns where necessary."