CreatripTeam

Lawmakers found that Starbucks Korea held about ₩2.6249 trillion (prepaid card top-ups) from 2020 to Aug 2024 across 81.13 million transactions. Unused customer balances rose to ₩401.4 billion by Aug 2024. Because Starbucks' closed-loop gift cards are not classified under Korea’s electronic finance law, these funds fell outside financial regulators' supervision. The company invested the prepaid funds in cash-like instruments and earned roughly ₩40.8 billion in interest and investment returns. About 60.5% went to bank deposits and 39.5% (≈₩707.3 billion) to non-bank trust products, which can carry counterparty risk. Critics say treating customer prepaid money like the company’s own while avoiding regulatory oversight endangers consumer protection. Starbucks Korea said it will consider stopping non-bank investments and improve its practices.