The number of debit cards issued in South Korea has surpassed that of credit cards for the first time, government data showed Thursday.
Debit cards issued totaled 100,770,000 in number as of the end of last year, up 3.3 percent or 3,250,000 from a year earlier, compared with 92,320,000 credit cards, down 9.5 percent or 9,710,000, according to the data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
The number of debit card holders has continued to rise as it gives more tax deductible benefits to users.
Payments using debit cards soared 21.6 percent to 112.7 trillion won, while credit card payments increased merely 2.4 percent to 500.5 trillion won, the data said.
When combined, payments using credit and debit cards rose 5.4 percent to 613.2 trillion won.
Debit card payments took a 18.4 percent share of the total payments, up 2.5 percentage points from a year earlier, the data said.
Payments using cards issued by Shinhan Card Co. reached 112.4 trillion won, compared with 78 trillion won for KB Kookmin, 68.5 trillion won for Samsung Card, 60.5 trillion won for Hyundai Card and 58.3 trillion won for Nonghyup Card.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
