Lotte Card begins card business in Vietnam through its subsidiary there, the card firm said Wednesday. It is the first time a Korean card firm has launched a credit card business in the Southeast Asian country.
According to the company, Lotte Finance Vietnam, its Vietnamese operation that was launched in December recently introduced two credit cards.
The cards have no annual fees. With the cards, customers can get discounts of up to 30 percent at around 300 Lotte affiliate stores that operating in Vietnam, including the fast-food chain Lotteria, coffee chain Angel-in-Us and Lotte Cinema. Koreatimes reports
The cards accumulate up to 0.5 percent of purchases in Vietnam and a maximum of 1 percent of purchases outside Vietnam as points. The points can be switched to mileage for Vietnam Airlines.
Lotte Card expects the cards to play a role in attracting Vietnamese tourists to Korea.
The cards accumulate up to 3 percent of purchases at Lotte affiliates in Korea as points, and the platinum card offers services for acquiring Korean travel visas and also provides travelers’ insurance that covers up to $435,200, free of charge.
“The goal of Lotte Finance Vietnam is to become the most trusted and popular finance company for the Vietnamese people,” Lotte Finance General Director Kim Jong-geuk said.
“We will contribute to developing the non-cash payment system and the financial market in Vietnam.”
Lotte Group’s credit card unit opened an office in Vietnam in 2009 to make inroads into the country’s fast-growing consumer finance market. Last year, it acquired 100 percent of shares of Techcom Finance, a subsidiary of Techcombank which is one of Vietnam’s five largest banks, launching Lotte Finance Vietnam.
Vietnam’s consumer finance market is small compared to that of other Southeast Asian countries, but is expected to expand rapidly based on growth in household consumption and the large population of young people.
Lotte Card is set to launch two additional cards in partnership with Lotte affiliates in Vietnam in the latter half of this year. In 2018, it launched customer loan and installment finance services.
Lotte Card is the fifth-largest credit card company in Korea.