Banks See Expatriates as Gold Mine

From: The Korea Times | Jul. 01, 2009
By: Kim Jae-kyoung | Staff Reporter

Korean banks have been bolstering their services for foreign customers to capitalize on the rising non-Korean population, which is estimated to have reached 1.1 million people, around 2 percent of the population. About 40 percent are Chinese-Koreans and 75 percent of the total work with a regular salary and visa.

The move comes as major local lenders are starting to change their attitude toward expats as they have seen the opportunity for this niche market growing, with the influx of educated and high-salaried foreigners over the past years.

Many local lenders provide expat-only services at some of their major branches staffed with English-speaking service agents. Many of them are also providing multi-lingual ATM services, and expats in Korea now have international ATM access to their cash.

Woori Bank launched a new type of overseas remittance service Monday, which enables recipients or foreign customers' families abroad to withdraw money in their own currencies without paying foreign exchange commissions.

This new service is available in 15 countries ― Taiwan, India, Malaysia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Israel, Pakistan, Brazil, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Peru, Hungary, Jordan and Argentina. The maximum amount of remittance is capped at $100,000.

"We see business opportunity in the foreign residents' group as it is a kind of untapped market. We are seeking to upgrade our expat banking service," a Woori Bank official said.

From this month, the state-run lender set up a global service desk designed exclusively for non-Koreans at 11 major branches, including its headquarters and its branch at the Samsung Town in southern Seoul.

Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) is indisputably the leader in expat banking business. Over the past year, it has introduced a wide range of services exclusively for foreign residents by opening expat banking service centers at key locations and giving international ATM access to their cash abroad through credit cards.

The bank is now running three VIP centers and 15 global desks for foreign customers where their specialists meet foreigners' specific banking needs. Simple banking transactions are also available at 350 branches staffed with English-speaking employees.

The lender offers multi-lingual ATM services available in 17 languages, including English, Japanese, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Mongolian, among others.

Shinhan Bank opens two branches in Seoul and Ansan during holidays for foreign customers. The two areas are staffed with employees fluent in English, Chinese and Russia. The lender is running 12 expat-specialized branches in Seoul, Incheon, Ulsan and Mokpo.

SC First Bank, the Korean arm of U.K. banking giant Standard Chartered, offers a foreign customer-tailored service dubbed "Mosaic Banking" by running a foreign customer window at its five major branches ― Jongno (main branch), Gwangwhamun, Itaewon, Banposeorae and Korea Trade Center.

In addition, it provides Mosaic Internet Banking (mosaic.scfirstbank.com), an Internet banking system for foreign customers. Its tele-banking service for foreign customers provides consultation in English.

"Over the past year, banks started to change the most important of all aspects, their attitude," said Luis Riestra, CEO of Wise & Wealthy, a firm dedicated to Korea's globalization through overseas market research and foreign investments.

"Expats are literally a gold mine for foreign currency exchange and remittances. The current opportunity is not only big and good, but also growing," said Riestra, who has lived in Korea for nine years.