한국 신용카드시장의 거래구조 및 가맹점수수료율에 대한 제도적 고찰

The regulation on the merchants discount rate has an aspect to compensate for the increased burden on merchants since the credit card market is a two-sided markets. The domestic arrangement system of merchants discount rate has a structural problem in which the government has no choice but to intervene excessively in market prices. This study compares domestic credit card transaction structure, merchants discount rate system, and fee schedule of merchants discount rate with overseas, and aims to lay the foundation for research on the credit card market. To summarize the results, first, a simple comparison between the merchants discount rate for overseas merchants and that for domestic merchants may provide erroneous information due to the difference in transaction structure. Second, it seems realistically difficult to abolish or relax the regulation that restricts the bargaining power of merchants instead of leaving the decision of merchants discount rate to the private sector. The reasons include consumer backlash or uncertainty about the implementation of a market-dominant platform. Above all, considering the political interest in protecting small business owners, the government's intervention in determining the merchants discount rate is judged to be inevitable in the future. Third, the current regulation in which the government determines the merchants discount rate and whether the credit card companies reflect the cost is excessive market intervention compared to overseas cases. As a result, it is necessary to consider a regulatory method to selectively alleviate the burden of merchants discount rate only for small merchants. In this regard, the method of using a two-sided markets price structure can be considered. Fourth, the credit card business has to be legally redefined. If the Specialized Credit Finance Business Act includes post-payment services for digital payment methods that have been recently activated, the problem of regulatory differences for the same function can be resolved. Finally, in order to create a market environment where merchants and credit card companies can arrange the merchants discount rate, the merchant’s perception of the merchants discount rate need to change. In other words, merchants discount rate should be recognized as an essential cost to run a business. On the other hand, credit card companies need to set up and offer a variety of services that can be directly experienced by merchants, so expansion of the scope of concurrent management and incidental business of credit card companies should also be considered.