Shinhan Card, which is locked in fierce competition with Samsung Card for the No. 1 spot in the industry, has been engulfed in internal conflict. Labor and management are sharply divided over remote postings.
On June 30, Shinhan Card carried out a large-scale personnel reshuffle involving about 500 employees in its second-half regular staffing round. Of those, nearly 120 were reportedly assigned to remote locations.
The Shinhan Card branch of the National Union of Office, Financial and Service Workers denounced the mass remote postings as a stepping stone toward artificial restructuring and an unfair personnel move that threatens members' livelihoods. The union has launched a strong response.
Since the 3rd, the union has tried to stage a sit-in at President Park Chang-hoon's office and has continued its protest in the hallway outside his office. On the 7th, it held a press conference in front of Shinhan Financial Group in Jung District, Seoul, under the title, "Condemning Shinhan Card's Forced Remote Postings and Demanding Immediate Withdrawal."
The union first pointed out that the number of remote postings had jumped sharply from around 18 last year to 119 this time. It also said the company's housing support would not be available until mid-August, more than five weeks after the reporting date, which it cited as evidence of a rushed personnel decision. The union also criticized the company for making the transfers without considering individual circumstances such as illness or family caregiving. It said 88 union members among all those assigned had requested grievance handling.
The union further argued that the postings were not routine personnel moves but the opening shot in large-scale restructuring. If they are not stopped now, it warned, even bigger restructuring will come at the end of the year.
Shinhan Card's workforce, which had remained in the high 2,600s in 2021 and 2022, fell steadily to 2,628 at the end of 2023, 2,594 at the end of 2024, and 2,440 at the end of last year. Analysts say the decline reflects the shift to non-face-to-face digital operations and more conservative management amid an industry downturn, but repeated voluntary retirement programs also had a direct impact. Shinhan Card accepted voluntary retirements in December 2024, June 2025, and again in January this year. At the press conference on the 7th, Lee Jae-jin, chairman of the National Office and Financial Services Workers' Union, also noted that Shinhan Card had repeatedly offered voluntary retirement after Samsung Card overtook it in net profit. The union said 107 employees had left through voluntary retirement since President Park Chang-hoon took office, and criticized management for shifting the burden of industry difficulties and executive responsibility onto workers.
Observers in and outside the industry also say the latest dispute was triggered by Shinhan Card recently being overtaken by Samsung Card in net profit, along with a narrowing gap in membership and market share.
Shinhan Card lost the top spot in net profit to Samsung Card in 2024 and 2025. After the 2007 merger with LG Card, it had held the industry's No. 1 position in net profit for years. It briefly lost the lead in 2014 when Samsung Card sold shares, but later dominated the top spot for a long stretch before being overtaken again for the first time in 10 years. The gap is widening. Shinhan Card posted net profit of 572.1 billion won in 2024, about 92.5 billion won less than Samsung Card's 664.6 billion won. In 2025, Shinhan Card's net profit fell 16.7% year on year to 476.7 billion won, widening the gap with Samsung Card's 645.9 billion won to 169.2 billion won. Shinhan Card still leads the industry in customer numbers, but its lead over Samsung Card, which stood at 1.25 million in 2024, had narrowed to 705,000 as of March 2026. Its market share advantage is also slim. According to the Credit Finance Association, as of the end of December last year, Shinhan Card held a 20.4% share of the personal credit sales market, while Samsung Card held 19.58%, a narrow gap of 0.82 percentage point. The market figure covers domestic and overseas lump-sum and installment purchases combined, excluding card loans and cash advances.
Against this backdrop of intense competition and efforts to slim down the organization, the union appears to have interpreted the recent large-scale remote postings as a form of indirect restructuring, or pressure to resign, which helped ignite the conflict.
Shinhan Card, for its part, said that voluntary retirement is a matter agreed upon by labor and management, and stressed that the latest postings fall within the company's legitimate personnel authority and are not intended to reduce headcount artificially. A company official said, "There were also 60 to 80 remote postings in the past," adding, "This round is for workforce reallocation following the expansion of branch coverage and for strengthening internal controls through rotational assignments for long-tenured employees." The official also said, "Improving performance is not something that can be solved simply by restructuring staff," and added that the company is expanding PLCCs, adjusting its business portfolio, and broadening its overseas operations to attract more premium members.
Kim So-hyung, compact@sportschosun.com
