Chairman Kim Byoung Hwan of the Financial Services Commission held a meeting with CEOs of card companies to discuss merchant card transaction fees for 2025 and seek ways to promote further development of card businesses on December 17. At the meeting, authorities introduced ways to reduce merchant card processing fees in the amount of about KRW300 billion annually and decided to extend the period for making a reassessment on fee levels to once every six years in principle from once every three years currently. In his opening remarks, Chairman Kim spoke about the growing capacity of card businesses as a big data-driven platform enabled by the vast volume of payments data and related infrastructure, and pledged that authorities will continue to provide active support to promote innovation of card businesses. While speaking about the necessity of maintaining sufficient liquidity and ensuring prudential management, Chairman Kim said that since there is no deposit-taking function, it is more important for specialized credit finance businesses to preemptively act to bolster their liquidity and soundness conditions against market volatility.