Hyundai Card saw credit sales hit 166.3 trillion won ( US$112.83 billion ) in 2024, up 11% from the previous year, according to the Credit Finance Association of Korea.

This secured for the company the top position in credit sales among eight credit card companies in South Korea, the association says.

Hyundai Card has also received upgraded credit ratings from global credit rating agencies – Fitch, Standard & Poor’s ( S&P ), Moody’s, and the Japan Credit Rating Agency ( JCR ).

The rating agencies have highlighted the company’s strong business ties with its parent company, Hyundai Motor Group, as a key factor in their favourable assessments.

They have also cited the ongoing growth of the company’s credit card business and its advanced data science capabilities which have transformed it into a financial technology company.

Enhanced credit rating

In February this year, Hyundai Card maintained its BBB+ Stable rating from Fitch, which was upgraded during last year’s evaluation. Fitch upgraded the rating from BBB Positive to BBB+ Stable in March 2024, followed by a similar upgrade from Standard & Poor’s ( S&P ) in August 2024.

In March 2024, Moody’s affirmed Hyundai Card with the Baa1 issuer rating with a Stable outlook. The Japan Credit Rating Agency ( JCR ) also raised Hyundai Card’s credit rating to AA- Stable in December 2024. Notably, just a year after it became the only Korean card company rated in Japan in November 2023, JCR aligned the credit level of Hyundai Card with that of its parent company, Hyundai Motor Group.

While other prominent credit card companies have dominated the GPCC ( general purpose credit card ) and PLCC ( private label credit card ) sectors individually, Hyundai Card has been able to achieve success in both domains, the company says.

Hyundai Card’s balanced growth in both the GPCC and PLCC businesses can be attributed to its data science capabilities.  It has invested 1 trillion won over the past decade to develop data science and AI capabilities.

Software export

In October 2024, the company secured a contract to export Universe to the Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, one of the top three credit card companies in Japan. This agreement represents the largest single software export in Korean history and marks the first software export from the Korean financial industry.

Universe is a hyper-personalized AI platform based on Hyundai Card’s proprietary data science expertise and technology. It predicts individual customer behaviour, preferences and conditions through “tags” that structure data, enabling direct customer targeting. This platform can be applied across all business areas, regardless of industry.

Internal test results showed that by utilizing Universe, targeted marketing campaigns resulted in being 6x more efficient than before.

With the help of Universe, Hyundai Card can predict and analyze customer spending patterns using data-defining and structuring systems, along with AI. With data science-based technology, Hyundai Card is actively involved in various business collaborations within the data alliance of its PLCC partners.

Strong ties with Hyundai Motor

Global credit rating agencies have emphasized the strategic business ties between Hyundai Card and Hyundai Motor Group. Fitch notes that Hyundai Card plays a significant role in supporting the group’s domestic retail passenger vehicle sales by providing credit purchase services, which account for 40%-45% of the sales amount. In addition, Hyundai Card collaborates with the group on business opportunities such as in-car payment solutions.

Despite the challenges faced by many credit card companies in Korea in maintaining stability due to rising funding costs, Hyundai Card has distinguished itself in risk management. It has continued to achieve the industry’s lowest delinquency rates of 0.89% in 2021, 0.89% in 2022, and 0.63% in 2023 ( delinquency rate based on 30 days ), the company says.