Credit card firms urged to focus on risk management

SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's financial watchdog on Friday called for credit card firms to improve their risk assessment processes, as economic uncertainties at home and abroad grow.

Yoon Suk-heun, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), made the remarks at a meeting with chief executives of credit card firms earlier in the day.

"Competition is intensifying as the local credit card market is in a stage of saturation," Yoon said at the meeting. "Credit card firms need to focus on risk management amid growing external and internal uncertainties surrounding our financial industry."

Earlier this year, the government cut credit card processing fees to support self-employed business owners at a time when the nation's economy is showing signs of weaker growth in the face of slowing exports and private consumption.

To offset a decline in commission income, credit card firms have made efforts to cut costs and diversify their income sources.

In the first half of this year, credit card firms reported a 0.9 percent on-year decline in their combined net profit.

The credit card firms posted a combined net profit of 957.8 billion won (US$800 million), down from 966.9 billion won a year earlier, according to their earnings results.

kdh@yna.co.kr
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