[비즈한국] Users are voicing continued dissatisfaction since Samsung Financial Networks consolidated its card, insurance, and securities services into the integrated application (app) 'Monimo'. In particular, since the original Samsung Card app was discontinued this past June, many have pointed out that it is difficult to find basic functions such as card usage history and performance checks. While other groups like Shinhan Financial, KB Financial, and Woori Financial are also trending toward gathering affiliate services into a single app, they continue to operate dedicated card apps separately, unlike Samsung Financial.
On the 12th, BizHankook analyzed 255 user reviews of the Monimo app on the Google Play Store from last month and found that 140 of them (55%), the lowest possible score, were 1-star ratings, exceeding half of the total. The remaining ratings included 11 reviews of 2 stars (4%), 12 of 3 stars (5%), 19 of 4 stars (7%), and 73 of 5 stars (29%). The average star rating for the past month was 2.51, with 6 out of 10 reviews remaining at 1 or 2 stars.
References to credit cards were particularly prominent in the 1-star reviews. Among the 140 1-star reviews, 49 cases (35%) mentioned "cards," which was higher than "insurance" at 16 cases (11%) and "securities" at 1 case (1%). Along with complaints that it is hard to find features previously easily accessible in the old Samsung Card app—such as usage history, statements, payment amounts, and performance—users also expressed reactions like "Please recreate the independent Samsung Card app" and "Give us back the existing card app."
Samsung Financial Networks launched Monimo in April 2022, gathering services from Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Samsung Card, and Samsung Securities into one place. Since then, it has sequentially moved major functions of each affiliate to Monimo. Samsung Card, Samsung Life, and Samsung Fire & Marine ended their original representative app services in June of this year and unified major financial tasks into Monimo. Samsung Card customers are now required to handle tasks such as checking usage history and payments through Monimo.
Complaints continue to be heard among users of the original Samsung Card app. Last month’s app reviews included frustrations that users must navigate through multiple menus to check card usage history or search for features they were previously familiar with in the old app. Some users pointed out that it is difficult to associate the new app 'Monimo' with Samsung Card services. In fact, the app name 'Monimo' does not contain the word 'Samsung.'
Integrating financial affiliate services into a single app is not unique to Samsung. Shinhan Financial Group operates 'Shinhan Super SOL,' KB Financial Group operates 'KB Star Banking,' and Woori Financial Group operates 'Woor WON Banking' as their group-wide integrated platforms. However, they maintain separate dedicated card apps, such as Shinhan Card's 'Shinhan SOL Pay,' KB Kookmin Card's 'KB Pay,' and Woori Card's 'Woori WON Card,' allowing customers to choose between the integrated app and individual apps.
Samsung Financial Networks has not eliminated all dedicated apps. While Samsung Card, Samsung Life, and Samsung Fire & Marine discontinued their representative apps and moved major financial tasks to Monimo, Samsung Securities continues to operate its Mobile Trading System (MTS) 'Samsung Securities mPOP' separately. While they shifted card and insurance services to focus on the integrated app, they kept the dedicated app option for securities, which has a different transaction frequency and usage pattern.
BizHankook inquired with Samsung Card regarding the background for discontinuing the original app and unifying into Monimo, whether they plan to bring back a dedicated card app, and their plans for improving user inconveniences, but did not receive a response.
Kang Hyung-gu, Vice President of the Korea Finance Consumer Federation, noted, "The purpose of an integrated app is to improve consumer convenience by allowing various financial tasks to be handled in one place. If the move has instead increased inconvenience, such as requiring multiple steps to check card usage history, it needs to be improved." He added, "They should have transitioned gradually, giving consumers time to adapt by running the existing card app in parallel for a certain period or by providing a direct path to card tasks from within the integrated app."