Daily Dash: South Korea Proposes New Credit Card Fee Structure

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has announced proposed amendments to the country’s supervisory regulations for specialised credit financial businesses. 

Released on December 24, 2024, the changes are intended to instil a more equitable fee structure for merchants, while creating better financial practices within the credit card industry.

The reforms include lowering the preferential fee rate cap for small and medium-sized merchants from the current range of 0.5 to 1.5 percent to 0.4 to 1.45 percent. 

The schedule for designating large credit card merchants and publishing merchant fee rates will also be aligned with that of small and medium-sized merchants to ensure consistency.

In addition, credit card companies that make early payments (within two days of the billing date) to merchants will receive expanded recognition for financing costs.