INTRODUCTION
As a way to resolve household debts, the Korean Financial Supervisory Authorities recently increased the strength of the regulations for national credit card firms. The financial authorities halted the expansion of asset sizes of credit card firms by restricting the criteria for credit card issuance to a credit rating level of 7 or greater by 2012 and by setting the upper limit of leverage for credit card firms to a maximum of six times by 2015. According to reports by the Korean Financial Supervisory Authorities, their card loan suppression policy and reduced (remittance) fees decreased the volume of credit card debt in the months ofJanuary until April by 35% compared with the volume of credit card debt in the same period of the previous year. Considering that domestic credit card firms usually procure the funds necessary for card loans and card sales through the issuance of credit card debt, the financing mechanisms of credit card firms seemed to be in poor condition.