The 'March launch' rumor surrounding Shinhan Card's adoption of Apple Pay has turned out to be largely unfounded.
Notice indicating Apple Pay availability at a merchant (Photo=Yonhap News)
According to the card industry on the 25th, Shinhan Card has never officially announced its intention to adopt Apple Pay. A Shinhan Card representative stated, "Shinhan Card has never officially confirmed that it would introduce Apple Pay," and added, "Most of the schedules and plans circulating in the market are close to external interpretations."
The company also drew a line regarding the recent speculation about a 'service launch within March.' The industry attributed the 'March deadline' theory to the fact that Shinhan Card's Apple Pay integration contract applies a one-year term.
A financial industry insider said, "Generally, contracts have deadlines, and exceeding them is not common practice," adding, "While specific conditions for Apple Pay integration contracts vary by case, if the deadline is one year, it would logically require rewriting the contract."
Shinhan Card also denied the validity of these deadline and re-contracting speculations. This suggests that interpreting any decision-making based on a specific timeframe is excessive.
Previously, around February last year, CEO Park Chang-hoon's Apple Pay strategy came into focus, leading to widespread speculation about its imminent introduction. However, Shinhan Card clarified that this was closer to market expectations formed by various circumstances rather than an official company announcement.
An industry insider said, "Even at the time, there was no official statement that Apple Pay would be a core business," and added, "The release of some preparatory information or fragmented details fueled heightened expectations."
Recently, some evidence supporting the possibility of Apple Pay adoption has also disappeared. The Apple Pay registration screen previously visible within Shinhan SOLPay and related terms of use exposed on certain portal sites for several months are no longer accessible.
These changes have led to interpretations that Apple Pay may have been excluded from short-term business priorities.
(Omitted)
▶ Source: https://kpenews.com/ViewM.aspx?No=4016176
