Korean cards

2024-05-31 09:52

Credit cards have been a common payment method in South Korea since the 1960s, and remain the preferred payment method today, accounting for more than 50% of the online e-commerce payment volume. In a country where 95% of the population holds bank accounts and a credit card penetration rate surpasses 60%, accepting South Korean card payments enables you to reach nearly the entire population of over 50 million.

Supported card brands

In contrast to international cards, the majority of South Korea's local cards are issued by nine primary companies. Prominent brands include Shinhan, BC, Samsung, KB, Hyundai, Lotte, NH, Hana, and Woori. Of the over 110 million cards issued locally, single-badged cards account for around 45%, while co-badged cards, which also display international card scheme logos, make up approximately 55%. Antom's solution supports both single-badged and co-badged local cards.

The following are all supported South Korean local card brands:

Shinhan Card, Hyundai Card, Samsung Card, Lotte Card, Hana Card, KB Kookmin Card, BC Card, NH Nonghyup Card, Woori Card, IBK B.C., Gwangju Bank, KDB Industrial Bank, Saemaeul Geumgo, Shinhyeop, Citi Card, Post office deposit insurance, Korea Federation of Savings Banks, Jeonbuk Bank, Jeju Bank, Kakao Bank, K Bank, Toss Bank, SH Suhyup Bank.

Properties

The following table lists the product properties supported by Korean cards:

Availability	Product type	Non-authentication payment	Issuer-authentication payment
	Acquirer	AlipaySG, AlipayUS, AlipayUK, AlipayEU	AlipaySG, AlipayUS, AlipayUK, AlipayEU
	Acquiring region	SG, HK, AU, US, UK, EU	SG, HK, AU, US, UK, EU
	Buyer country/region	South Korea	South Korea
	Merchant business type	Non-high risk business types (such as general e-commerce)	All business types (including high-risk industries such as game/top-up merchants are required to integrate this product)
Product features	Payment type	CARD	CARD
	Card brand	Support all South Korean local card brands, see the Card brands for details
	Card type	All local card types	All local card types
	Payment flow	Direct	Redirect
	Payment completion	Real-time	Real-time
	Processing currency	KRW	KRW
Other	Settlement cycle	T+4/W+4/M+4	T+4/W+4/M+4
	3D	❌	✔️
	Authorization validity period	7 days	7 days
	Minimum transaction amount	Refer to the Transaction limit table for the default limit setting.
	Maximum transaction amount
	Checkout Payment	✔️	✔️
	Auto Debit	❌	❌
	Multiple partial captures	❌	❌
	Partial capture	❌	❌
	Overdraft capture	❌	❌
	Refunds	✔️	✔️
	Partial refunds	✔️	✔️
	Chargeback/Dispute	✔️	✔️
	Refund period	365 days	365 days
	Recurring	❌	❌
	Installment	✔️	❌
	Installment description	Amount > 50000 krw; Plan supports 2-12 month for all card brands	Amount > 50000 krw; Plan supports 2-12 month for all card brands
	Installment interest payer	Users. Card issuers provide monthly interest-free promotions. See the installment information below.	Users. Card issuers provide monthly interest-free promotions. See the installment information below.

[1] For the two payment flows for Korean cards, refer to User experience for more details.

Transaction limit

Card brands	Single transaction limit		No. of daily transactions		Daily limit		Monthly limit
Card brands	Top-up	Gaming	Top-up	Gaming	Top-up	Gaming	Top-up	Gaming
Kookmin	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	200,000	1,000,000	N/A
BC	N/A	50,000	N/A	4	N/A	200,000	N/A	10,000,000
NH	100,000	100,000	10	10	500,000	500,000	N/A	N/A
Lotte	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	500,000	500,000	N/A	N/A
Hana	N/A	100,000	N/A	6	N/A	300,000	N/A	N/A
Samsung	N/A	500,000	N/A	N/A	50,000	500,000	N/A	N/A
Shinhan	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	50,000	50,000	N/A	N/A
Hyundai	N/A	110,000	N/A	5	N/A	550,000	N/A	N/A
Woori	50,000	50,000	4	4	200,000	200,000	N/A	N/A

[1] Note that card issuers might change this limit according to different internal policies.

User experience

Antom offers two types of payment flows for Korean cards:

Issuer-authentication payment: Users are redirected to the bank page of the chosen issuer to complete the payment. Payment is completed via different processes, such as scanning a QR code, or inputting card or bank account information, depending on the particular bank's capabilities. You are required to provide these payment flows for categories such as gaming and top-up or charging services.
Non-authentication payment (Key-in): Users need to manually key in their card details as per a standard card payment process.

Note: For Korean cards-installment function, merchants can design how to show 2-12 installments for users, or merchants can redirect users to Ant's middle page for users to choose 2-12 installments. When users choose a specific installment plan, the common practice in the Korean market is that merchants do not show users the corresponding plan's interest rate on the checkout page. Instead, Korean users can check their interest fees on the card issuers' monthly bills or statements.

The following figures show the journey of paying with Korean cards in different scenarios.

Issuer-authentication payment

This section shows the user experience of API-only integration under the issuer-authentication payment.

Bank list provided by merchant

Web

App

Users select a bank.
The bank page is to be opened and presents available authentication methods.[1]
Users choose an authentication method to proceed.
The QR code and payment code are to be displayed on the page for users to scan or input within a mobile app.
Users select a card within the app, complete user authentication, and confirm payment.
Users are redirected to the merchant site and are notified of the payment result.

[1] Different banks may offer different authentication methods, including card number with password, the pre-installed mobile bank app, CVC, SMS OTP, ARS authentication, etc, based on the options that banks provide to users. ARS authentication is an authentication method that involves providing users with a PIN code over a phone call.

Bank list provided by Ant

Web

App

Non-authentication payment

This section shows the difference of user experience between API-only and SDK integration under the non-authentication payment.

API-only integration

For API-only integration, the user experience of paying with Korean cards between the first-time and subsequent payments is different.

First-time payment

The following figures show the user experience of first-time payment for corporate and individual cards under PCI and non-PCI qualified conditions.

PCI qualified (Corporate card)

Web

App

PCI qualified (Individual card)

Web

App

Non-PCI qualified (Corporate card)

Web

App

Non-PCI qualified (Individual card)

Web

App

Subsequent payments

The following figures show the user experience of subsequent payments under PCI and non-PCI qualified conditions.

PCI qualified

Web

App

Non-PCI qualified

Web

App

SDK integration

For SDK integration, the user experience of paying with Korean cards between the first-time and subsequent payments is different.

First-time payment

The following figures show the user experience of first-time payment for corporate and individual cards.

Corporate card

Web

App

Individual card

Web

App

Subsequent payments

Web

App

Korean card issuers' interest-free installment information

Interest-Free installment (Transactions over 50,000 KRW)
Card issuer	Installment months	Remarks	Applicable targets
Samsung	2~5	*Home shopping/tax/hospital industries are excluded	Online PG Service
Lotte	2~5	*Debit, prepaid, corporate, gift cards are excluded
Shinhan	2~3	*Tax (national/local) industries are excluded
KB Kookmin		*Debit, business, BC, and prepaid cards are excluded
Hyundai		Transaction over 10,000 KRW are eligible for interest-free installment (in some cases over 50,000 KRW are eligible) *Gift voucher, home shopping, pharmaceuticals, and etc. are excluded
Hana		Hypermarket, airlines, duty-free shops, travel agencies, pharmacies are eligible for 2-3 months Property insurance, taxes, academies, outlets/large shopping center are excluded
NH Nonghyup	2~4	Sports/leisure goods, automobile maintenance/repair, etc. are eligible for 2-3 months NH Hanaro mart, hypermarket, insurance are eligible for 2-3 months
BC		*National/local taxes, property insurance, department stores, travel, academies/education are eligible for 2-3 months
Woori		Debit, corporate, gift cards are excluded Cars, used cars, gift voucher, national tax, local tax, and insurance are excluded
Kwangju	2~7	/
Jeonbuk	2~3	/
Partial interest-Free installment (Purchases over ￦50,000)
Card issuer	Installment months	Charged to customer	Free for customer
Samsung	7	1~3 month	4~7 month
Samsung	11	1~5 month	6~11 month
KB Kookmin	6	1~3 month	4~6 month
KB Kookmin	10	1~5 month	6~10 month
Shinhan	10	1~4 month	5~10 month
Shinhan	12	1~5 month	6~12 month
BC	10	1~3 month	4~10 month
BC	12	1~4 month	5~12 month
Woori	10	1~3 month	4~10 month
Woori	12	1~4 month	5~12 month
Hana	6	1~3 month	4~6 month
	10	1~4 month	5~10 month
	12	1~5 month	6~12 month
NH Nonghyup	4~6	1~2 month	3~6 month
NH Nonghyup	7~10	1~3 month	4~10 month
Jeonbuk	4~9	1 time	2~9 month
Jeonbuk	10~12	1~2 month	3~12 month
Period: 06/01/2024 ~ 06/30/2024 Even if “FREE Installment” is displayed on the payment window, excluded cards and industries are not eligible. Depending on the card issuer's policy, debit, prepaid, and gift cards may be excluded from interest-free installments. In cases of NH Nonghyup Card's if the benefits from "Interest-Free Installment" and "Partial Interest-Free Installment" can be both applied, more beneficial one would be applied. Corporate/business/check/prepaid/gift/hybrid cards, and some bank-affiliated BCcards may be excluded. BC card covers personal credit payments for Woori, IBK, NH, SC, Daegu, Busan, Gyeongnam, Shinhan, Hana, KB, Citi BC(excluding Citi Visa), and Suhyup. For interest-free payments from other issuers, inquiries should be made to the individual issuer. Suhyup BC has been eligible for BC Card's "Interest-Free Installment" since 03/01/2024. However, Suhyup BC is excluded from BC Card's "Partial Interest-Free Installment." For cards issued by Citi card, "Interest-Free Installment" will not be provided in 2024. For Citibank BC cards, "Interest-Free Installment" will be provided according to the policies of BC cards. Interest-free benefits are provided for e-commerce PG industries. However, benefits may be restricted for other industries (such as vouchers, refunds, medicine, pharmaceuticals, academies, duty-free shops, insurance, car rentals, airlines, local tax payments, etc.). Some merchants directly contracted with card issuer, new merchants, public institutions, and certain offline payments are excluded from eligibility. However, Paynow Biz are eligible for interest-free installment. This event may change or discontinue depending on the card issuer’s decision.

Note: These information will be updated monthly and might change according to each card issuer's own policy.