Closer Relationship
LG U+ and KB Kookmin Card and UnionPay have merged the Fintech market of each other’s home country.
LG U+, KB Financial Group, KB Kookmin Card Co., China UnionPay, and UnionPay International had a ceremony for the partnership for mobile card issuing and payment services on April 16 at the headquarters of LG U+ in Seoul, an LG U+ representative said.
The service will provide customers a mobile card with UnionPay that will enable them to pay by connecting their smartphone to payment machines found in both South Korea and China, LG U+ said.
According to the UnionPay, last year, its Chinese customers spent about 6.7 trillion won (US$6.1 billion) with its plastic cards in South Korea, Jung Young-hoon, a PR representative of LG U+, told Business Korea.
Kim Duk-soo, the president of KB Kookmin Card Co., said that the partnership will bring a “significant” first-mover advantage, as the partnership is “the first” cooperation between card and telecommunication companies.
A representative of LG U+ said that “showing very much interest in the partnership”, the participants in the ceremony included China UnionPay’s Chairperson Ge Huayong, Chief Business Development Officer of UnionPay International Wang Lixin, UnionPay International Korea President Seong Bo-mi, KB Financial Group’s Chairperson Jong Kyoo-yoon, President of KB Kookmin Card Kim Duk-soo, and LG U+ Vice Chairman Lee Sang-chul.