Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
Samsung Card wins MyData license
By Lee Min-hyung
Samsung Card headquarters in Seoul / Yonhap
By Lee Min-hyung
Samsung Card has won a license belatedly to operate its MyData business. The company is forecast to launch relevant services this year, in a bid to find fresh revenue sources amid a market slowdown.
MyData is a service enabling customers to check their comprehensive financial information at one glance through one online platform offered by any one of the major financial firms here. The service also offers analytic data on customers, including their spending patterns, and recommends optimal financial products for them.
Unlike other card business operators, Samsung Card was unable to receive the license for the past year after its largest shareholder ― Samsung Life Insurance ― faced the heavy punishment of an institutional warning from the Financial Supervisory Service in January 2022. Both firms had since been prohibited from expanding into new businesses.
According to the financial industry, the Financial Services Commission recently granted an approval for Samsung Card's MyData business operation. It took almost two months since the company won a preliminary license to do so in April.
The MyData service started its pilot test in December 2021, and most card firms won their licenses early last year. Due to its belated participation, Samsung Card is in a rush to launch its own MyData service as early as this year. The card affiliate of Samsung aims to overtake market leader Shinhan Card by widening its customer base and generating more revenue with the data business.
Samsung Card also has a competitive edge with Monimo, the group's converged financial app. The service was launched in April 2022 and is operated by Samsung Financial Networks. Its members include five financial affiliates of Samsung Group, such as Samsung Card, Samsung Securities and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance.
Even if Monimo has yet to achieve outstanding performance comparable with Samsung's dominance in the IT sector, it still has enough growth potential due to Samsung financial subsidiaries' customer base of around 33 million.