Hana Bank has captured more than 40% of the market for Korea's "Nara Sarang Card" just eight months after entering the business, with salary transfers by active-duty conscripts rising 14-fold from the end of last year.
Hana Bank said on the 17th that it held about 42% of the cumulative issuance market for the card as of the end of last month. The Nara Sarang Card is a debit card used by men from their military conscription physical through their service period to receive pay and access financial and welfare benefits. Hana Bank was newly selected as a third-round operator and began issuing cards and handling business for conscription examinees this year.
The bank ran an aggressive marketing campaign featuring An Yu-jin, a member of the K-pop girl group Ive. Card designs using her image drew a strong response from young soldiers, with more than 158,000 accounts issued through the end of last month. A Hana Bank official said the results came from "a pinpoint marketing strategy aimed at the tastes of young soldiers in their late teens and twenties, who value their own individuality and collectible worth."
Beyond card issuance, salary transfers by soldiers also rose sharply. Hana Bank's volume of military salary transfers from active-duty conscripts increased 14-fold from the end of last year. The bank attributes the gain to a strategy of using card issuance to win military customers and then linking financial and investment benefits to their service period.
Hana Bank is also expanding financial education and welfare support for soldiers. Through "Money Special Forces," a financial education team dedicated to military personnel, the bank visits units to run financial education programs and supports financial planning workshops for junior officers.
The bank also funded a renovation of a fitness facility at a unit under the 2nd Marine Division and donated about 5,000 books to the Army's 7th Corps. It covers the cost of custom-made prosthetic arms and legs and medical assistive devices for soldiers killed or injured in the line of duty and their families.
"We will extend the ties we have formed with military customers through the Nara Sarang Card into long-term asset management relationships," a Hana Bank official said. "Through financial education and welfare support, we will help young soldiers build assets on a stable footing."
