Banks enhance mobile services for foreigners

By Kim Bo-eun

The country's major banks are competing to offer better mobile services for foreign customers as a means to secure another source of income.

The move comes as there is growing demand from foreign residents for remittance and other financial services.

To fulfil this demand, banks are moving to introduce mobile banking services tailored for foreign professionals and migrant workers. They are focusing on making foreign remittance more convenient. Banks also see this as an opportunity to build overseas networks and promote themselves globally.

The number of foreign customers of the country's five major banks ― Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Woori, KEB Hana and Nonghyup ― is estimated to have exceeded the 5 million mark at the end of 2018. The figure is up from 4.6 million a year earlier.

Banks' foreign customers are increasing as foreign residents in Korea grow. The number of foreign workers has increased accordingly, growing from 66,000 in 2013 to 88,000 last year.

These foreign workers are increasingly transferring funds overseas _ a total of 2.98 trillion won was transferred overseas by foreign workers last year.

Woori Bank launched a mobile foreign remittance service for foreign customers earlier in May. Customers can transfer money simply by entering the bank and account number, without having to input a bank code or address.

The service is available through Woori Bank's application for foreign customers, in eight languages including English and Vietnamese.

“We launched the service as the number of foreign customers continues to grow, and they are increasingly using mobile banking services,” a Woori Bank official said.

Nonghyup Bank is in the process of integrating its existing app with internet banking services to offer key functions such as transferring funds and exchanging currency in nine languages through a single system on both smartphones and personal computers.

At the same time, banks are seeking to make their services more accessible for more customers.

In April, the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) became the first bank to launch a mobile website for foreigners.

The website introduces IBK's services for foreign customers in 12 languages including English, Chinese, Vietnamese and Indonesian. It has uploaded video clips that show customers how to transfer money and use mobile banking services.

IBK also collaborated with Naver's artificial intelligence-based translation service Papago to create a corner specializing in terms used when opening an account, exchanging currency and using ATMs.

Shinhan Bank is seeking to overhaul its mobile banking services for foreign customers, as their number continues to grow. It had 691,000 foreign customers as of 2018, which is up from 551,000 in 2015.

“Shinhan's existing mobile banking application offers services in 10 languages but we plan to increase the number of languages we are offering services in,” an official said.

Banks are also designating branches for foreign customers, to better meet their needs. KEB Hana Bank has branches nationwide that open on Sundays for migrant workers who find it difficult to visit banks on weekdays.