Last year, credit card companies’ net profit decreased by 9% due to a cut in credit card fees.
Due to the impact of the financial authorities’ policy of lowering merchant card fees, credit card companies’ net profits decreased by about 9% last year.
According to the ‘2025 Business Performance of Specialized Credit Finance Companies’ announced by the Financial Supervisory Service on the 19th, the net profit of credit card companies last year was 2.36 trillion won, a decrease of 8.9% (230.8 billion won) compared to the previous year.
Card loan revenue (KRW 293.8 billion) and installment card commission revenue (KRW 145 billion) increased, but merchant commission revenue decreased by KRW 442.7 billion, leading to a drop in profitability.
As of the end of last year, the credit card company’s delinquency rate was 1.52%, down 0.13%p from the end of the previous year. The annual loan rate for credit card bonds was 1.54%, down 0.14%p from the end of the previous year, and the annual loan rate for credit sales bonds was 0.81%, down 0.08%p. The card loan delinquency rate was 3.21%, down 0.17%p from the end of the previous year.
Card issuance, card purchase usage, and card loan usage increased. As of the end of last year, the number of credit cards issued increased by 0.9% to 134.66 million. Credit and check card usage amounted to 1,225.1 trillion won, an increase of 3.5% compared to the previous year. Card loan usage increased 5.1% to 110.3 trillion won.
On the other hand, the net profit of non-card credit finance companies increased by 43.1% to 3.5524 trillion won.
This was due to an increase in lease, rental, and installment profits (KRW 997.8 billion) and securities-related profits (KRW 541 billion). However, the delinquency rate was 2.11%, an increase of 0.01%p compared to the end of the previous year.
Reporter Kim Shin-young spicyzero@etnews.com
