Shinhan Card is rapidly catching up with Hana Card, which holds the top market share for overseas debit cards. A year ago, the gap in market share between the two companies was nearly double, but it has now narrowed to about 10 percentage points this year. The increasing number of overseas travelers suggests that card companies are focusing on competition in the travel card market.
According to the Korea Credit Finance Association on the 19th, the total aggregates of personal overseas debit card usage by eight specialized card companies (Lotte, BC, Samsung, Shinhan, Woori, Hana, Hyundai, KB) from January to April amounted to 2.0462 trillion won. Among the eight companies, Hana Card had the highest share at 44.9% (919.2 billion won), followed by Shinhan Card at 32% (655.3 billion won). In the same period last year, Hana Card held a 53% share of the total overseas debit card usage, while Shinhan Card was at 22.6%.
Hana Card launched the overseas travel specialized card "Travel Log Debit Card" in July 2022, right after the COVID-19 pandemic, seizing the domestic market. The card targeted the rapidly increasing demand for overseas travel through benefits like free currency exchange and waiving overseas merchant payment fees.
Last year, Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Woori Card, and others also launched travel specialized cards simultaneously, entering the competition. Notably, Shinhan Card, which has the largest number of credit and debit card members among the eight companies, successfully increased its number of Travel Check users.
The advantage of travel cards is that they can attract users at relatively low expense. Foreign currency deposits linked to the Travel Check Card offer an interest rate of about 1-2% per year. This allows for attracting customers with lower interest rates than typical deposit products. Additionally, users can also be secured by linking the travel card to savings and deposits products offered by banks within the same holding company.
A source in the card industry noted, "As the card industry faces recession, the competition in the travel card market, which can effectively increase users during the travel peak season, is expected to intensify."