(Yonhap)
South Korea’s financial regulator has eased credit card industry rules, lowering the minimum age for issuing debit cards without postpaid transit functions to 7 from 12. It is also doubling minors’ monthly postpaid transit limit to 100,000 won ($67.84) from 50,000 won.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said Tuesday that an amended enforcement decree governing the credit finance industry was approved at a Cabinet Meeting and will take effect May 4.
The changes include streamlined procedures for signing up credit card merchants and allow credit finance companies to broker leasing and installment financing products. The measures aim to help small business owners start operations more quickly by shortening merchant registration times.
Under current rules, agents must visit business sites in person to verify operations, a requirement that has caused delays. Since November 2020, the government has allowed remote registration as an innovative financial service using mobile apps to submit photos with location data.
The amended decree formalizes this process, allowing verification without on-site visits and enabling merchants to sign up and begin operations more quickly.
It also expands the scope of credit finance companies’ business by explicitly allowing brokerage of leasing and installment products, an area where legal grounds had been unclear despite existing demand.
Procedures for issuing family cards to minors will be simplified. Under current law, credit cards are limited to legal adults, effectively barring minors. In November, the government said it would create a legal basis to allow minors to use family credit cards at their parents’ request.
Following the amendment, the legal basis is formalized through regulatory interpretation, allowing issuance without separate designation as an innovative financial service.
Industry rules will also raise the monthly postpaid transit limit for minors’ debit cards to 100,000 won and lower the eligible age for cards without postpaid transit functions to 7.
Industry insiders welcomed the changes. Card companies expect faster merchant onboarding to help secure customers more quickly, while capital firms can formally conduct leasing and installment brokerage that had previously been done in practice.
“The amendments help formalize existing practices and improve procedural efficiency,” said an industry insider.
The expansion of family card issuance for minors is also expected to support household-based marketing. Another industry official said “lowering the age threshold could create more room for business growth, as such cards are typically issued based on parent accounts.”
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