BC Card (Mun-whan Lee, President and CEO, www.bccard.com) announced that the company provided QR payment services for direct transactions for agricultural produce at the 'Sejong Arts Market Soso (hereinafter, Soso)' held at the Arts Garden of the Sejong Center for Performing Arts over 2 days from the 13th.

Soso is an outdoor marketplace for the general public organized by the Sejong Center for Performing Arts to exhibit the works and products of young artists and small business operators who have difficulty in directly encountering consumers in order for direct transactions to be made for the works and products.

BC Card provided QR payment services that enabled direct transactions at Soso for approximately 20 members of the 'farmer market team' who sell environment-friendly agricultural products that they grew, for the first time among credit card companies in Korea.

‘Farmer market’ is a group of farmers who practice environmental protection and operate small-sized farms in Dangjin, Chungnam, and have not subscribed as credit card merchants of BC Card. However, through cooperation between BC Card and the Sejong Center for Performing Arts for provision of QR payment services, it was possible to sell their produce without having the customers pay cash.

There was very high participation rate of customers in the event since they can purchase environment-friendly agricultural produce by using convenient BC Card-based QR payments without the need to carry cash as well as receive additional free gifts offered to those availing the QR payment service.

A BC-Card-operated booth was onsite for the event and provided a wide range of services for the customers who were using QR payment service for the first time; these services ranged from installation to actual payment.

Mr. Seok-jin Choi, an Executive Director of BC Card (in charge of communications), stated that, "BC Card, through execution of this trial service, came to realize that QR payment services could be an excellent support to small-sized farmers and business operators with difficulties in registering as credit card merchants," and that, "we will strive to put efforts toward establishment of means of coexistence between customers and small business operators through new digital technologies such as QR payments, etc. in the future."