Seoul's 30-day Climate Companion Card pass will effectively end at the end of this month, pushing the financial sector's race to secure public transport users into a new phase. Attention is on which issuer will absorb existing Climate Companion Card users.

Seoul and the financial sector said the 30-day Climate Companion Card pass will end operations on Oct. 1. Top-ups for the prepaid version ended on Aug. 31, and topped-up balances can be used until Sept. 29. For the postpaid version, Climate Companion Card benefits apply through usage on Sept. 30. Short-term passes will continue.

Instead, Seoul has been operating the Climate Companion Pass since Sept. 1 by adding Seoul resident benefits to the Everyone's Card (K-Pass). Everyone's Card users can receive Seoul-specific benefits without getting a new card issued.

Existing Climate Companion Card users can switch to a physical Climate Companion Pass or use a K-Pass-linked credit or debit card issued by a card company. The Climate Companion Pass adds separate benefits to K-Pass's basic refund structure, including expanding Seoul's youth discount eligibility to age 39.

◆Climate Companion dedicated products phased out...existing users move to K-Pass?

In line with the policy shift, card companies have halted new and additional issuance of the Climate Companion Card and limited existing cards to reissuance within their validity period.

Users can keep using their existing cards until expiry, but Climate Companion Card discounts apply only through usage on Sept. 30. From next month, the card can be used as a standard postpaid transit card, and refunds will not apply.

As a result, users seeking to keep receiving transport cost support must choose a new K-Pass-linked card. For issuers, that creates switching demand that can both retain existing customers and attract users from other companies.

Climate Companion Card users are falling quickly. Seoul said the number of users dropped 60 percent to 360,000 at the end of August from about 900,000 in June.

By contrast, the user base for the Everyone's Card is growing. Subscribers rose to 5 million in April this year from 4 million in October last year, and topped 6 million on July 29. That was an increase of 1 million in about three months.

◆If policy benefits are the same, competition comes down to card perks

The focus of competition is also changing. Because the Everyone's Card applies the same policy refunds set by the government and local governments, there is no difference in refund criteria regardless of which issuer's card is used under the same conditions.

Amid this, participating companies increased to 27 from 20. This year, Jeonbuk Bank, Kyongnam Bank, Jeju Bank and Toss Bank newly joined, making banks' participation more noticeable. Credit unions, Saemaeul Geumgo and Tmoney have also joined, expanding issuance competition beyond card companies to banks, mutual finance and transit card operators.

With policy refund criteria the same and more participants, differentiation through issuer-specific benefits has become more important. Major card companies are adding separate transport fare discounts and lifestyle service benefits to K-Pass-linked products. Many products offer additional discounts of around 10 percent on public transport spending, but minimum spending requirements and monthly discount caps vary by issuer.

In lifestyle categories, cards offer various discounts for coffee, convenience stores, telecommunications, online shopping and digital content. In the end, even with the same Everyone's Card, the benefits users feel can differ depending on transport spending, card usage and lifestyle spending patterns.

As existing user bases combine with switching demand from Climate Companion Card users, the new competitive point in the financial sector is what issuer-specific benefits are added on top of policy refunds to attract customers.

A financial industry official said, "As more consumers prioritize practicality, many compare benefits by card company before getting a card issued." The official said it is important to consider not only transport discounts but also lifestyle benefits and usage conditions to choose the card that fits. The official added, "In the industry, there also appears to be a continuing move to strengthen benefits to secure new customers."