By Kim Jae-won
The financial regulator announced Monday it will order banks to offer customized services for expatriates.
Services will range from providing guidelines in foreign languages to multilingual staff.
"Few documents are available in foreign languages at banks," said Kim Yong-woo, a Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) director.
"We want lenders to provide information for those who cannot speak Korean."
The announcement comes amid expat complaints about poor and discriminatory financial services.
The regulator said many expats suffered from inconvenient financial services, with some Chinese workers using illegal foreign exchange services offered by unlicensed brokers.
It is easy to find shops offering unlicensed foreign exchange services in Daelim-dong, western Seoul where about 14,000 expats live.
The number of expats in Korea had rose to 1.8 million in 2014 from 1.3 million in 2010, but financial services reportedly have improved little.
To prevent illegal financial practices, the FSS said it would provide financial education services for foreign workers in cooperation with the Human Resources Development Service of Korea, the state-run agency supporting foreign workers.
The curriculum will include how to open bank accounts, processes for financial services, cautions about financial investments and ways to use financial information.
The regulator's package includes services for North Korean defectors and multicultural families.
The FSS also plans to distribute pamphlets written in foreign languages at festivals and in multicultural streets.
As part of the reforms, the government plans to make it easier for foreign heirs and heiresses to review their relatives' financial transactions in Korea.
The number of applications for the service increased to 127 last year from 72 in 2013. It reached 102 in the first seven months this year, according to the FSS.
The regulator also plans to crack down on discrimination against physically disabled people, who are often refused loans and insurance policies with no proper explanation.
Measures include getting complaints through in Braille from the blind and responding in Braille, voice files and large text messages. For the deaf, banks will have to offer sign language services through teleconference calls.
"We will examine whether financial institutions discriminate against the disabled for no proper reason," the FSS said in a statement.
The financial regulator announced Monday it will order banks to offer customized services for expatriates.
Services will range from providing guidelines in foreign languages to multilingual staff.
"Few documents are available in foreign languages at banks," said Kim Yong-woo, a Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) director.
"We want lenders to provide information for those who cannot speak Korean."
The announcement comes amid expat complaints about poor and discriminatory financial services.
The regulator said many expats suffered from inconvenient financial services, with some Chinese workers using illegal foreign exchange services offered by unlicensed brokers.
It is easy to find shops offering unlicensed foreign exchange services in Daelim-dong, western Seoul where about 14,000 expats live.
The number of expats in Korea had rose to 1.8 million in 2014 from 1.3 million in 2010, but financial services reportedly have improved little.
To prevent illegal financial practices, the FSS said it would provide financial education services for foreign workers in cooperation with the Human Resources Development Service of Korea, the state-run agency supporting foreign workers.
The curriculum will include how to open bank accounts, processes for financial services, cautions about financial investments and ways to use financial information.
The regulator's package includes services for North Korean defectors and multicultural families.
The FSS also plans to distribute pamphlets written in foreign languages at festivals and in multicultural streets.
As part of the reforms, the government plans to make it easier for foreign heirs and heiresses to review their relatives' financial transactions in Korea.
The number of applications for the service increased to 127 last year from 72 in 2013. It reached 102 in the first seven months this year, according to the FSS.
The regulator also plans to crack down on discrimination against physically disabled people, who are often refused loans and insurance policies with no proper explanation.
Measures include getting complaints through in Braille from the blind and responding in Braille, voice files and large text messages. For the deaf, banks will have to offer sign language services through teleconference calls.
"We will examine whether financial institutions discriminate against the disabled for no proper reason," the FSS said in a statement.
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