[New Korean Dream⑪] "Uzbek Housewives and Yeonbyeon-born Bosses Are Valuable Bank Customers"

You Need to Find a Bank First to Open a Salary Account and Send Money Home
Essential but the Most Difficult Step

Banks: Places That Help with Foreigners' Finances and Daily Life

[Ansan·Anseong=Asia Economy Reporter Shim Nayoung] Where should foreigners who come to Korea to earn money go first? After finding a job, the place to learn how to open a salary account and remit money back home is the bank. It is an essential gateway but also the most challenging place. Setting aside complicated paperwork, difficult financial terms are a 'neomsabyeok' (an insurmountable fourth-dimensional wall) for foreigners. 'New Korean Dream'

"The hardest thing is internet banking... If urgent, I contact even after work or on weekends"

▲On the 8th, Manager Kim Yong-sook, in charge of Counter 5 at NH Nonghyup Seonbudong Branch, is attending to Chinese customers.

At counter number 5 of the NH Nonghyup Seonbudong branch located in the middle of the Ansan industrial complex, Mr. Xu Yingpan (59), who runs a steel frame construction company, is a regular customer. He is not the only Chinese person who frequently visits this counter. Manager Kim Yongsuk (37), in charge of counter 5, is famous in the area for her proficiency in Chinese.

Chinese people in Ansan who were at a loss for words when visiting banks start speaking their dialect when sitting in front of Manager Kim. "Even if they speak some Korean, I deliberately speak to them in Chinese. Then, those who initially only requested a passbook reissue stiffly begin to talk about the difficulties they have faced in banking transactions and start conducting more transactions."

Mr. Xu Yingpan, who grew up in Yanbian, was one of the people who came after hearing rumors in the Ansan Chinese community. When he first came to Korea alone 16 years ago with a work visa, he had only 300,000 won in hand. After passing through Namwon in Jeollanam-do and Mokpo, working various day labor jobs, he saved money and came to Ansan to start a company. Now, he is a respectable company representative responsible for the livelihoods of five regular employees and eleven daily workers. He said that as he operates a corporation, his dependence on banks has increased.

The hardest thing, no matter what, is internet banking. When a payment transfer gets stuck halfway, it feels hopeless. "As a Chinese person, I am always careful not to damage my image. I hate to delay payment for even a day, so I try to send it on the same day, but sometimes it stops midway. When urgent, I visit Manager Kim even after work or on weekends, and she always helps me, which I am very grateful for."

▲On the 8th, Manager Kim Yong-sook, in charge of Counter 5 at NH Nonghyup Seonbudong Branch, is attending to Chinese customers.

Among customers visiting the Seonbudong branch, about three out of ten are foreigners. Since it is a neighborhood where foreigners who do not know how to use bank apps gather, at least 200 and up to 300 people come daily. On the morning of the 8th, when the conversation between a Chinese person applying for a credit card at counter 5 and Manager Kim was heard, the attention of other Chinese people holding waiting tickets was fully focused. One of the banking tasks that foreigners are unfamiliar with is credit card issuance. Without a credit card, they even suffer inconvenience as they cannot use postpaid transportation cards.

Ms. Wei Mei (56), who works at a restaurant in Wongok-dong, Ansan, was like that too. She saved tens of millions of won in her deposit and withdrawal account by being frugal but never thought about a credit card. She bought a transportation card at a convenience store and used prepaid charging. She had to get off the bus several times because she did not realize her balance was depleted. It was Manager Kim who informed her that if she had sufficient banking transaction records, she could get a credit card.

Manager Kim said, "The day after issuing a credit card, she brought mooncakes she made herself to share with the bank staff," adding, "Many foreign customers who are not fluent in the language cannot even open savings accounts, so my role is to guide them once more in Chinese."

SOS to Uzbek Bank Promoter... Solving School Texts and Rent Complaints

▲On the 8th, promotional staff member Kim Beulladeumireu (48) is attending to an Uzbek foreign customer at the NH Nonghyup Bank Anseong Branch.

Victoria Akhmadeeva (36), an Uzbek who came to Korea with her family last April and got a job at a livestock barn in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, was at a loss when she received a text message from her 9-year-old daughter's school teacher last week. She could only greet in Korean but could neither read nor write it. She recalled the NH Nonghyup Anseong branch promoter she met when opening a bank account. She captured the text and sent an SOS to prepare the school supplies just in time.

Victoria said, "A hometown friend living nearby asked the promoter for help because the landlord wanted to raise the monthly rent higher than the contract. There is no one outside the bank who speaks both Russian and banking language well. We get help not only with banking but also in many other areas."

Promoter Vladimir Kim (48) immigrated 23 years ago and acquired Korean nationality. He goes to the bank every Friday to assist foreigners. NH Nonghyup has placed promoters like him in 10 regions nationwide where many foreigners live. Wearing a yellow vest from Western Union, a global remittance payment network partnered with NH Nonghyup, he sits in front of the bank once a week, attracting lines of foreigners from Uzbekistan, Russia, and Ukraine. Although telephone financial consultation services are provided in eight foreign languages including Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, Thai, Mongolian, and Cambodian, the promoter's popularity cannot be matched. It is also his role to follow customers to the counter and interpret.

▲On the 8th, promotional staff member Kim Beulladeumireu (48) is attending to an Uzbek foreign customer at the NH Nonghyup Bank Anseong Branch.

Mr. Kim said, "The bank is a place all foreigners must visit regularly, so I started this work hoping they would get information and help from the bank," adding, "I counsel about 20 people each time, and when they need to change their visit date, people here share the information in advance via SNS."

On the desks of Anseong branch employees lies a calendar-shaped 'Foreign Exchange Business Guidebook.' On the afternoon of the 8th, when Mr. Kim guided a foreigner who wanted to open a savings account to the counter, a bank employee checked the guidebook and greeted, "Zdravstvuyte. Chem ya mogu vam pomoch?" (Hello. How can I help you?)

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Justice's Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters, as of May, the number of foreigners residing in Korea was 2,012,862, an increase of 1.3% compared to the previous year. Two million people is a level that commercial banks must compete to attract customers. In terms of population, it ranks fifth after Seoul, Busan, Incheon, and Daegu. A financial industry official said, "Typically, commercial banks have 2 to 3 million main transaction accounts. Of course, salary levels differ, and a significant amount is remitted overseas, but it is roughly the size of a commercial bank's customer base."