Retail giant Shinsegae said Wednesday that it will release a branded credit card called the SSG Card on Thursday.

While most retailers partner with existing credit card companies to create credit card benefits for their consumers, Shinsegae produced its own card to create synergy with its SSG Pay system.


When used together with SSG Pay, the SSG card allows consumers to earn 1.5 percent of their spending as cash points called SSG Money, with no limitations on minimum spending.

Consumers can apply for the card at any time via the app, and it takes about one hour to be created.

The move represents the latest in a battle between the easy-pay systems released by IT firms such as Samsung and retailers like Shinsegae and Lotte. 

Released two months ahead of Lotte’s L.Pay, which seeks to bring in users through benefits at its vast network of retail and entertainment companies, SSG Pay has currently been downloaded more than 4 million times. 

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)