Starbucks-branded Hyundai Card coming out soon

Mugs are decorated with logos of Hyundai Card and Starbucks Coffee at the coffeehouse chain's The Jongno R branch in Seoul in this file photo. / Courtesy of Starbucks Coffee Korea

By Park Jae-hyuk

Hyundai Card is expected to unveil its Starbucks-branded private label credit card (PLCC) this week at the earliest.

Starbucks Coffee Korea wrote on its website Oct. 5 that its privacy policy will be revised Oct. 15 to share its customer data with Hyundai Motor Group's card-issuing arm.

This came four months after Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young and Starbucks Coffee Korea CEO Song Ho-seob signed an agreement to release a PLCC at the coffeehouse chain's The Jongno R branch in downtown Seoul.

Back then, they agreed to launch the card during the second half of this year.

If the two companies successfully launch the PLCC, it will be the first time Starbucks has rolled out a credit card with another company here.

“Before launching the Starbucks card, I've been studying the brand hard,” Chung wrote on Facebook, Sept. 29, posting a photo of the Starbucks “Summer Ready Bag” and the “Summer Chair.” They were the coffeehouse chain's giveaways that caused a huge coffee-buying frenzy last summer.

“Looking at these two items in my office, I've continued to ask how they could become enthusiastically rare items,” the vice chairman wrote.

Industry officials expect the Starbucks-branded card will be decorated with the coffeehouse chain's signature Siren logo to win the hearts of its loyal customers.

Given that Starbucks and Hyundai Card will share their user data to develop customized services, the partnership will likely help the card firm have a competitive edge over its rivals in the data business, which has been regarded recently as a new source of income for financial firms.

Earlier this year, Hyundai Card launched a Korean Air-branded PLCC to offer bonus airline points and related benefits to its users. It also joined hands with Woowa Brothers, Socar and Musinsa this year to release additional PLCCs with them.

Some market observers regarded this strategy as part of the card firm's efforts to improve its competitiveness ahead of its initial public offering (IPO).

Hyundai Card is preparing for an IPO after hiring NH Investment & Securities and Citigroup Global Markets Korea Securities as lead underwriters.

Chung, however, denied the correlation between PLCCs and his company's planned IPO.

“An IPO is a kind of money game. If the management drives a company from the perspective of a money game, it will lose its long-term judgment and precious time for innovation. This is not good for shareholders,” he wrote on Facebook, Tuesday.