Tag: banks

Why doesn’t this person just take their business to another bank instead of expecting the bank to completely upgrade their software to accommodate them:

A local bank’s refusal to open an account for a foreigner with a long name is discriminatory, South Korea’s human rights watchdog said Monday.

The move came 13 months after a foreigner filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea for being rejected by the bank to open a bank account for a self-employed business on the grounds of a long name.

The bank said its computing system allows up to 20 characters for the names of a client and his or her shop to open a business account, regardless of the nationality of a client.

The bank said it is possible to improve its system to ensure a client’s name can exceed 20 characters, but it is considering upgrading the system when it builds a next-generation computing system due to costs.

The rights commission said it is difficult to say that the bank directly discriminated against the client for being a foreigner, but the bank’s refusal constitutes “indirect discrimination” if it caused a great disadvantage to a certain group of people and an individual.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the article says their were five other major South Korean banks with the software to handle the long name.

I can understand the bank’s perspective on this if someone cannot prove they are going to be employed longer than a year. I think even a Korean citizen would have a hard time being approved for a loan under these circumstances:

For Lonnie, a 45-year old Canadian working as a professional English instructor in Seoul, buying his own house in the city has been near the top of his bucket list.

But his plan for a dream house has been let down by local banks rejecting his applications for a credit loan. Despite his status as a full-time instructor at the Graduate School of Interpretation and Translation of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies for more than eight years, the banks have not been accommodating.

“For the first time in almost 18 years after I came here, I applied for a credit loan offered by Woori Bank last year to raise money to purchase an affordable starter home,” he said. “However, a bank clerk said I don’t qualify for the lending as my contract at HUFS was only for a year, saying foreigners could run away if they only had a one-year contract.“

His contract is renewed on a yearly basis, but he is classified as regular worker subject to the state’s employment insurance coverage. He earns an annual income of around 80 million won ($69,300). 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Historian Robert Neff has another interesting historical nugget in the Korea Times about one of the first reported bank robberies in South Korea:

One of the first bank robberies in Korea took place in Jemulpo (modern Incheon) on June 25, 1892 ― a dreadfully hot day. A young Japanese employee of the First National Bank of Japan went to the Korean Customs Office to collect the daily duties on goods being imported and exported through the port. It was a fairly substantial amount of money ― nearly 700 dollars.

Korea Times

You can read the rest at the link.

I have always said that the Kim regime is not going to feel the real effect of sanctions until the Chinese banks are sanctioned. Hopefully this is a sign of the U.S. government more aggressively going after Chinese banks:

The U.S. government has charged 28 North Korean and five Chinese individuals with facilitating more than $2.5 billion in illegal payments for Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile program as part of a clandestine global network operating from countries including China, Russia, Libya and Thailand.

In a 50-page federal indictment unsealed Thursday in Washington, D.C., the Justice Department accused the individuals of acting as agents of North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank, in what officials say is the largest North Korean sanctions violations case charged by the U.S.

Working for the FTB — which is North Korea’s primary foreign currency bank and under sanctions for facilitating nuclear proliferation — the agents allegedly set up more than 250 front companies and covert bank branches around the world to mask payments transiting the U.S. financial system, including through several Chinese banks and for equipment from Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp., according to charging documents. (…….)

The massive enforcement action comes as United Nations experts have detailed North Korea’s widespread evasion of sanctions by using agents of state-owned and other banks overseas to facilitate a global web of illicit oil, arms and coal deals to bring in foreign currency. The efforts have been augmented through offshore, ship-to-ship transfers, large-scalecryptocurrency hacks and ransomware attacks.

Washington Post

A ROK Drop favorite Joshua Stanton from One Free Korea is quoted in the article:

“This adds to the already overwhelming evidence that China’s government is willfully assisting Kim Jong Un in his violations of North Korea sanctions,” said Joshua Stanton, a lawyer who helped write the 2016 law that strengthened North Korea sanctions.

“I’ll believe it’s ‘maximum pressure’ when those banks begin to face nine- and ten-digit penalties, like the ones President (Barack) Obama imposed on European banks that broke Iran sanctions,” Stanton said, and has advised House and Senate staffers on North Korea sanctions law.

According to the article no one is in custody because assuredly the North Koreans and Chinese won’t hand these people over. However, already $63 million in assets have been seized.

Maybe the politics of the coronavirus is finally causing our government to take real action against Chinese banks?

It will be interesting to see if the claim of upcoming sanctions is true or not.  I always figured that the Trump administration would wait until after the mid-term elections before taking any tough actions on the Korea front. This rumor may be a warning to the Moon administration that the US is ready to take action if Korea tries to do any banking deals with North Korea:

A rumor that the United States Treasury is considering including a Korean bank in a secondary boycott in early November has pushed down the shares of major financial institutes, although the country’s financial regulator and banks deny the claim.

A rumor surfaced early this week through Kakao Talk and other internet messengers that the U.S. Treasury Department will announce sanctions against a South Korean bank for illegally trading with North Korea before Nov. 6. While not specifying the bank, the rumor said that the bank was notified on Oct. 12.

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) refuted the claim on Wednesday, calling it a groundless rumor. Local banks echoed the denial.

“The rumor that the U.S. is pushing forward with a secondary boycott is not true as we confirmed with local banks,” said the regulator in a statement.

The measure was designed to punish third-party companies that engage in illicit trade with Pyongyang.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but South Korean bankers have recently publicly said they will not do any business with North Korea until the sanctions are dropped.

It looks like the leaders of South Korea’s banks are not about to break sanctions like the Moon administration has been pushing them to do:

South Korea will open bank branches in North Korea only after international sanctions are lifted in return for irreversible steps by the North to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, the top financial regulator here said Friday.

Choi Jong-ku, chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), told a parliamentary audit meeting that Seoul has not discussed cooperation with North Korea in the financial sector.

“Opening bank branches in North Korea will be possible only after conditions are met,” Choi said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

States (here #SouthKorea) shall prevent (banks) from opening branches in North Korea–that's pretty clearly stated. Secondary #sanctions affect not only the banks, but their client firms as well. Moon Jae-in should not gamble with #SouthKorea's economy. https://t.co/daaRczIXUL

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) October 23, 2018

I understand these banks have to do due diligence in preparation to support any investments in North Korea, but this is all irrelevant unless the Trump administration drops sanctions:

South Korean banks, including Shinhan Financial Group and KB Financial Group — have set up task forces to conduct research on inter-Korean economic projects.

Earlier this month, Shinhan Financial launched a task force on North Korea.

The task force was manned by executives from the financial holding firm’s affiliates, including Shinhan Bank.

KB Financial has also set up a task force to review how it could take part in North Korea’s fiancial business operations if inter-Korean cooperation gains further momentum.

KEB Hana Bank will launch a team to draw up plans for financial support in North Korea when inter-Korean economic projects resume.

An official at KEB Hana Bank said the bank is interested in opening a branch in North Korea, but it will be possible “when political conditions are ripe.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This sounds like one of these only in Korea stories:

KB Kookmin Bank has come under fire for holding a grueling 100 kilometer march for its recruits and reportedly giving out oral contraceptive pills to its new female employees — a large portion of which are under 30 — during the training period.

According to the news report from a local daily, the commercial bank gave the pills to the employees to control their menstrual cycles before they go on a 100-kilometer overnight march. The bank has traditionally carried out the marching event every year to boost the morale of the rookies, the report said.

The bank explained that it provided the pill for the health of female employees who are on their period, as they could feel relatively more exhausted than their male co-workers during the harsh schedule. The employees were not forced to take the pill, the bank added.

The act, however, caused a public backlash after it was revealed on Monday.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but the bank did not mandate the use of the pills, it was optional if the female employees needed it.  As far as marching 100 kilometers if the new employees knew this was something they would have to complete for initial training and were being paid I don’t see what the big deal is?

The first reported bank robbery has happened in North Korea.  This is something pretty audacious to try in North Korea.  It looks like the bank employees are in big trouble:

North Korea has now suffered its first bank robbery.

The unknown robbers infiltrated the Shinam branch of the Central Bank of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the city of Cheongjin, North Hamgyong Province, on Apr 4, Radio Free Asia reported Thursday citing a source from the province.

The robbers broke into the bank’s main entrance and stole an unspecified amount of cash, the source said. The bank is currently out of service. The provincial police assumed there was an accomplice inside the bank.

After the incident at the branch, other branches of the bank beefed up security by bringing in more security personnel. Shinam branch took care of many customers compared with other branches because it mainly brokered trades. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.