Edaily | [Zoom In] “A Card Is a Living Thing”… Woori Card CEO Jeong Won-jae’s Bold Move
Edaily reported that Woori Card CEO Jeong Won-jae, marking his 100th day in office, unveiled the 'Jeong Won-jae Card (Card of Standards)' with an industry-leading 0.8% point accumulation rate. The card features artist Kim Hyun Jung's work 'Excess Is as Bad as Deficiency,' and Jeong emphasized organizational flexibility and a market-leading strategy, saying, "A card is a living thing."
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CEO Jeong Won-jae's bold move at Woori Card, marking '100 days in office'
The industry's highest accumulation rate arrives with 'Jeong Won-jae Card'
Three months in the making: 'Card of Standards' launches
Up to 0.8 points accumulated across all categories
Unlimited accumulation once prior month's spending reaches 300,000 won
Top 10 most-used categories earn up to 5%
An extra 3% when registered with a simple-payment service
Art packed into an 8.5cm × 5.4cm space
'Idol of Korean painting' Kim Hyun Jung
Her work 'Excess Is as Bad as Deficiency' adds a distinctive touch
"A card is a living thing."
That is what Jeong Won-jae (pictured), Woori Card's CEO marking his 100th day in office on the 11th, habitually tells his staff. It is an urgent appeal that a card, like a living organism, must adapt quickly to customers' needs or stay ahead of them. Amid an industry mired in sluggish performance due to cuts in merchant fees and the legal maximum interest rate, he has been working hard to breathe 'pulsing vitality' into the business.
The first ambitious product he spent three months preparing is the so-called Jeong Won-jae Card, officially named 'Card of Standards.' Evoking the well-known study guide 'The Standard of Mathematics,' the name reflects attention to market complaints that there are too many card services with too little real benefit. So Woori Card chose to simplify the card's conditions while dramatically expanding its benefits. It offers an industry-leading base accumulation rate of 0.8% across all merchant categories, with unlimited accumulation once the prior month's spending reaches 300,000 won. In particular, up to 5% of spending is accumulated in 10 categories customers use most often, with an additional 3% when registered with a simple-payment service. Depending on the category, the maximum accumulation rate reaches 6%.
An industry-first Korean painting collaboration draws attention
What stands out most is the card's design. At the center of the card is the Korean text 'Card of Standards,' while on the side is Kim Hyun Jung's work 'Excess Is as Bad as Deficiency' — the 'idol of Korean painting' — giving the 8.5cm-by-5.4cm card a strong artistic feel. It was CEO Jeong's own idea: "In an era when BTS is enjoying worldwide popularity, why should the front of a card only ever carry English lettering and modern design?" He personally recommended Kim, known for her 'Naesoong' series depicting the bold, unguarded side of women through Korean painting. It marks the industry's first Korean-painting collaboration, and the new card's launch was paired with the unusual event of an accompanying exhibition.
As the first major project for Jeong, who previously headed Woori Bank's sales support division, 'Card of Standards' also carries the bank's full backing.
For the first time, Woori Bank ran a promotion dedicated to a single card product, and bank executives turned out in force for the launch exhibition on the 4th. "Support from the bank, the card's biggest sales channel, matters a great deal," Jeong said. "So many bank executives and branch managers came to the launch exhibition that, honestly, I was quite taken aback." He laughed that the relationship with the bank was "a perfect match."
"Even shorts are OK"... emphasizing organizational flexibility
Marking his 100th day in office, he named "raising market share" as his goal going forward. "With market share not even reaching 10%, we don't even have a seat at the table. In that situation, how could we partner easily with any player?" he asked rhetorically. Still, he holds to optimism almost as a creed. "We will strike a balance by adjusting to the past and to budgets, while weighing risk and customer inconvenience," Jeong emphasized.