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| Chung Tae-young, vice chairman of Hyundai Card, Hyundai Capital |
He received a paycheck worth more than 2.2 billion won ($2 million) in the first half of this year. This includes incentives of over 630 million won from the credit card and auto financing companies and nearly 800 million won from Hyundai Commercial, a credit financing company for Hyundai Motor's trucks and buses.
The curtain was drawn last week, revealing the industry's biggest earners who were paid more than 500 million won, including incentives.
With the latest industry pay data, Chung has been dubbed "the salary king" here.
This pay disclosure rule was enforced after the global financial crisis of 2008 to keep pay and greed in check. In the United States, some chief executives still got paid big dollars even after the companies they were running were about to collapse and received capital injections.
Chung, also known as Ted, is Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo's son-in-law. Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors have more than a 51 percent stake in Hyundai Card. Hyundai Commercial has a 24.54 percent stake in Hyundai Card.
Chung's wife, the Hyundai Motor chairman's daughter, is also an executive of Hyundai Card, Hyundai Capital and Hyundai Commercial. She has a 33 percent stake in Hyundai Commercial.
The card company attributed his high pay to his efforts in "strengthening the Hyundai Card brand through cultural marketing," it noted.
The vice chairman is widely known in the credit card sector as the one who spearheaded cultural marketing by joining hands with public libraries, museums and movie theatres to promote its brand.
Hyundai Card posted sales of 1.53 trillion won in the first half, up from 1.52 trillion won from a year earlier, according to its audit filing. Its net profit, however, fell to 77 billion won, from 130 billion won as its costs for setting aside funds for potential losses on customer defaults increased.
