[THE INVESTOR] First-half earnings for Korean credit card companies inched down from a year earlier, mainly on a cut in fee rates imposed on member stores, the nation’s financial watchdog said Aug. 17.

The combined net income of eight stand-alone card firms stood at 1.05 trillion won (US$952 million) in the January-June period, down 0.88 percent from a year earlier, according to the FSS.

The slight drop was attributed to the fee-rate cut conducted in late January. The card issuers lowered the rate to 0.8 percent for mom-and-pop stores whose annual sales came to less than 200 million won. The rate was also slashed to 1.3 percent to members with annual sales between 200 million won and 300 million won.

The credit card industry had expected their fee income to shrink by 670 billion won annually due to the lower card fees from member stores.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)