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Seoul Financial Hub

Domestic financial industry

Credit finance companies

Overview

The credit card business, facility rental business, installment financing business, or new technology business finance business are all examples of specialized credit finance business, according to the Korea Specialized Credit Finance Business Act.

The domestic specialist credit finance industry is in the following state.
The credit card industry's total assets are at 182 trillion won (As of December 2023)
The facility rental industry has around KRW 99 trillion in total assets (As of December 2023)
About KRW 115 trillion worth of assets make up the installment finance industry (As of December 2023)
About KRW 24 trillion is the total value of the new technology finance industry's assets (As of December 2023)

Following is the scope of work for each sub-area.

Specific field Work field
Credit card
  • Issuing and administering credit cards
  • Payment for credit card use
  • Recruiting and overseeing affiliates for credit cards
Leasing
  • The counterparty receives a specific item or loan of a certain object for
    usage over an extended period of time, with periodic payments of a specific sum of money.
  • The parties will agree on how to dispose of the goods once their use-period has ended.
Installment finance
  • Complete each contract for the sale of goods and services with the buyer and the seller.
  • Pay the buyer cash for the acquisition of the products and services they were borrowed money for, and then pay the buyer's principal and interest.
New technology venture capital
  • Loans and investments for owners of emerging technology businesses
  • Management and technological advice for those operating new technology businesses
  • Creation of an association for new technology business investments
  • Administration and operation of funds for the organization for new technology business investment
The following list summarizes the state of the key financial and management metrics for businesses involved in the credit business.
Credit card companies
(Unit: KRW trillion, %)
Division 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Card purchase amount 874.7 877.3 960.6 1,076.6 1,139.3
Credit card loan usage 105.2 107.1 107.2 103.8 102
Net income 1.29 2.03 2.71 2.60 2.58
Delinquency rate 1.43 1.29 1.09 1.20 1.63
Adjusted capital ratio 22.3 22.3 20.8 19.4 19.8
Credit-specialized finance companies, excluding credit card companies
(Unit: KRW trillion, %)
  Division 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Installment finance, Leasing, New technology venture capital companies Total assests 161.7 181.1 207.4 232.0 238
Net income 2.1 2.6 4.5 3.4 2.7
Delinquency rate 1.68 1.26 0.86 1.25 2.5
Adjusted capital ratio 16.1 16.4 17.2 16.9 17.9
Non Performing Loan(NPL) 2.12 1.73 1.33 1.54 2.2
You can check the list of member companies and industry statistics through the website of the self-regulatory organization (association).
Reference : Credit Finance Association (www.crefia.or.kr)
- Source : Credit Specialized Financial Business Act│Fine Financial Consumer Information Portal│Financial Investment Association Electronic Disclosure Service│Financial Statistical Information System│Loan Finance Association

Why Capitals in Seoul?

  • Variety of products

    For domestic credit businesses, various types of business such as leasing, capital, and credit card business are possible.

  • Social credibility

    For the domestic market, the delinquency rates and bankruptcy rates are low, and the recovery rates are high, so social credibility is high.

  • Financial regulatory sandbox

    By utilizing innovative financial services, it is possible to develop and support financial services that incorporate new technologies.

  • Cashless payment methods

    Korea is one of the countries with the highest cashless payment rate, and the credit card industry has great potential.