Korean firm enters Indonesian credit card market

Shinhan Indo Finance Ltd (SIF), a subsidiary of South Korean credit issuer Shinhan Card, has launched its first credit card on the Indonesian market.

The “ShinhanIndo Card Hi-Cash” comes in four different types to reach consumers from all segments, especially the millennials.

In developing its credit card business, SIF is cooperates with Indo-Pack, merchants under Indomobil Group, and K-Pack, merchants from South Korean companies, the company’s vice president Tan Kim Piauw told a press conference after the launching event on Monday.

SIF was established in December 2015 as a multi-finance joint venture between the Korean credit issuer and two Indonesian firms, Indomobil Group and Asuransi Central Asia (ACA).

The joint venture obtained permits to issue credit cards from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and Bank Indonesia in December last year.

In its initial stage of operation, Indomobil’s 20,000 employees and those of ACA were SIF’s main market target, Tan said, adding that this year the number of credit card holders was expected to reach 80,000.

“We hope to book Rp 500 billion in transactions in 2017,” he said.

Speaking at the press conference, Shinhan Card CEO Wi Sung Ho said that with its growing middle class, Indonesia was a market with quite a bit of potential for the credit card business. He said that the number of credit card holders totaled only 17 million despite the country’s large population, far below the South Korean market with 22 million cardholders.