As the number of foreign customers using South Korean banks increases, the number of specialized branches for foreigners is growing.
According to the four major banks in S. Korea, namely KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, and Woori, the number of foreign customers increased by around 15% from 4.13 million in 2019 to 4.79 million last year. This increase can be attributed to the rise in the number of foreign workers and students who are staying in S. Korea for a long period of time.
On Apr. 16 at 2 PM, a foreign employee at the bank was speaking in Russian with a blonde female customer at a bank in Euljiro 6-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul. They were at a bank counter that was specifically designated for foreigners. At that time, 16 foreigners were waiting in line at the counter, conversing in English, Russian, and Chinese.
This particular bank branch specializes in serving foreigners and has eight service counters. Half of these counters are exclusively reserved for foreigners. In the bank, papers were placed at the counters with questions written in Russian and Mongolian.
These questions included things like “Did you lose your credit card?” and “Are you here to change your password?” Foreigners could simply point to the question corresponding to their needs, and the staff would provide the necessary services.
The first branches specialized for foreigners were established in 2003, and currently, there are 33 such branches operating nationwide. This is in contrast to the sharp decrease in overall bank branch numbers due to the shift towards online and mobile banking, with the branches of the four major banks having reduced by 20% from 3,525 in 2019 to 2,812 as of Mar. 2024.
Foreign nationals find it difficult to use online financial services in S. Korea, often leading them to visit banks in person. They have an annual limit of $50,000 for remittances and receipts from overseas. Transactions exceeding this limit require additional documentation.
For instance, Mr. A, who is from Russia and visited Korea for business in December, went to Woori Bank’s Gwanghee-dong Financial Center on Apr. 11 to get a credit card issued. He needed the card for his business, but found the process frustrating because of the numerous documents required. Since the overseas transaction limit is $50,000, it’s difficult to manage large sums of money. Therefore, he will have to visit the bank again to resolve this.
Sushma Khatri, who is a Nepalese student in her second year of study at a university in Seoul, had to visit the bank to pay her tuition fees. She uses an account that allows withdrawals of up to 300,000 won through Internet and mobile banking, meaning she cannot transfer the tuition fee, which amounts to several million won, via non-face-to-face methods. This is a common issue for foreign students who generally lack a regular source of income and can only open accounts with limited online transfer capabilities.
Similarly, foreign workers who are not familiar with online platforms also prefer offline banking. Nikolai Zhimizov, a Russian worker, said, “I haven’t even thought about downloading the bank app. Even for something as simple as making a card, I think I need to go to the bank.”
Due to the increasing number of foreign customers, some banks even open on Sundays. An official from Hana Bank’s Euljiro 6-ga branch said, “Last Sunday afternoon, there were over 67 foreign customers waiting. Many foreigners come to the bank on weekends, so our staff couldn’t even take a lunch break due to the need to serve them.”
An official from the Woori Bank Gwanghee-dong Financial Center said, “Foreigners have stricter conditions for issuing credit cards compared to locals, so many visit bank branches to withdraw cash using their debit cards from ATMs.”
