By Kim Jae-won
The Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) is leading banking services tailor-made to meet the needs of expats such as foreign exchange transaction services, easy processing for credit card issuance and weekend services.
KEB officials say that they take particular pride in their “Easy-one Foreign Exchange Transaction Service.”
This service enables foreigners to conveniently exchange Korean won into their own currency or transfer it to their overseas accounts using automated teller machines (ATMs). About 200,000 foreign customers take advantage of this service, which is registered as a patent.
The Rainbow Package permits some 30,000 customers to use the debit card plus banking account product, which comes with a 5 percent discount for subway and bus fees.
The sixth-largest lender has also launched the Foreign-Invested Enterprise Account (FIE) and FIE Corporate Card. KEB provides higher transaction limits and awards more reward points for FIEs than their Korean counterparts. For foreign-invested companies, KEB specially dispatches “relationship” managers to provide better services.
KEB aims to eliminate as many banking inconveniences as possible for foreign executives, employees, and their families while they stay in Korea, bank officials said.
The lender has developed its portfolio of expat-oriented products and services, which includes online banking in English, multilingual ATMs, English-language call centers, documents and applications in English, the Expat Account, and the Expat Card.
For added simplicity the Expat Savings Account lists all bankbook transactions in English; the KEB Global Deposit Account offers convenient deposit transactions; the Expat Leader’s Loan provides expats with loans at competitive rates; the Expat Mortgage Loan exists for expat housing loans; and the Expat Signature Card, is an expat-friendly credit card.
Rather than wait for customers, KEB sponsors or supports foreigners’ events and festivals including the Songkran Festival, or traditional New Year’s Day in Thailand. The Songkran festival is jointly organized by the city of Ansan and the Royal Thai Embassy in Korea, and was held this past Sunday at Ansan’s WA Stadium in Gyeonggi Province. At the festival, the participants took advantage of the Smart Wing mobile branch that was on hand to provide almost every banking service.
KEB operates 22 branches strategically located in neighborhoods and business districts that are frequented by expats along with three foreign VIP centers at Star Tower, Itaewon, and Hannam-dong branches in Seoul. The lender also offers expat banking services at 19 locations nationwide.