Hana-SK Card, the smallest player among local credit card companies, is not so little when it comes to mobile cards, as proven by its recent record-breaking card issuance numbers.

Hana-SK became the first in the industry to issue more than 500,000 mobile cards as of September this year, industry sources said on Monday.

The figure is also a record-breaker in the global credit card industry, they said.

Hana-SK’s feat comes as existing plastic credit cards are expected to be largely replaced by mobile cards ― cards that can be downloaded onto chips embedded in mobile phones ― on the back of the fast-paced growth of smartphone sales.

Over 20 percent of the Korean population is currently said to be using smartphones.

“The main reason behind our success is the prevalence of smartphones; the second is our perseverance in the mobile card market,” said Kim Young-sun, a spokesman for the card company.

Hana-SK plowed forward in its efforts to make headway, while industry heavyweights such as Shinhan Card had largely ignored the mobile card market, mostly because they were reticent to engage in new investment when they already own a significant chunk of the market.

Seeing that the prospects for mobile cards appear to be greater than it expected, Shinhan recently joined the race to issue 300,000 mobile cards as of last month.

Healthy partnerships with telecom companies is another element in Hana-SK’s success, as the company has strong ties with SK Telecom ― its second-largest shareholder. It also has been catering to customers of LG Uplus, and is now expanding its reach to KT.

The bigger players, on the other hand, had been more or less reluctant to join hands with telecom companies, which is a must in order to promote and operate mobile cards.

Hana-SK is now seeking to open an exclusive mobile card shopping mall online to give its customers an even wider choice of services.

As of the end of September, Hana-SK Card’s mobile card sales reached 30 billion won ($27 million), a four-fold rise from the same period last year. The figure also reflects an average 30-plus increase per month this year.

The company’s monthly mobile card sales are expected to surpass 10 billion won in November, company officials said.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)