Adult Guardianship Bank Transactions to Speed Up... Manual Established

Expansion of Adult Guardianship System with Aging Population... Ongoing Inconveniences
Common Manual Developed by Related Agencies

In the future, when adult guardians visit banks to handle the financial affairs of their wards, the processing speed is expected to improve. Financial authorities plan to prevent the refusal or delay of services without clear reasons when adult guardians visit banks through a common manual prepared with related organizations.

On the 4th, the Financial Services Commission announced that it has prepared the "Adult Guardian Financial Transaction Manual" (hereinafter referred to as the manual) in collaboration with related organizations such as the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korea Federation of Banks, and the Seoul Family Court. Since January, the related organizations, including the Financial Services Commission, have formed a working group to prepare the manual.

The reason authorities and related organizations have undertaken the creation of the manual is due to the expansion of the adult guardianship system. According to statistics released by the Statistics Korea, the elderly population aged 65 and over was 9,018,000 last year, accounting for 17.5% of the total population, and it is expected to rise to 20.6% by 2025, entering a "super-aged society."

On the 9th, officials were busy moving in the corridor of the Financial Services Commission at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, where financial authorities decided to promote a plan to include mortgage loans (Judaemae) in the 'debt refinancing' infrastructure scheduled to be launched in May by the end of the year. Financial authorities explained that they aim to reduce the interest burden on mortgage loans by building a debt refinancing platform that allows users to compare financial sector loan interest rates at a glance and switch loans easily. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

The adult guardianship system was established through amendments to the Civil Act in 2013 in response to criticisms that the existing interdiction and limited interdiction systems excessively restricted the capacity of the parties involved. However, even though about 10 years have passed since the adult guardianship system was implemented, inconveniences continue to occur, such as different documents required by each bank when guardians visit financial institutions to handle financial affairs on behalf of wards, repeated requests for the same documents at each visit, or restrictions without special reasons despite the authority being stated in the certificate of guardianship registration.

Accordingly, the manual details how bank tellers should understand the "certificate of guardianship registration," which is an official document proving guardianship matters, and which aspects to focus on when verifying the guardian's authority. For example, among statutory guardianships, "adult guardianship" generally allows the guardian to represent all affairs of the ward, but acts such as borrowing money or disposing of real estate require court approval or consent from the guardian supervisor, so the "scope of representation authority" section in the certificate of guardianship registration must be carefully checked.

Additionally, the manual presents the minimum essential documents that must be submitted depending on the situation when conducting financial transactions with guardians. For instance, if a guardian applies for tasks designated as "matters requiring court approval" in the certificate of guardianship registration, such as loans or providing real estate as collateral, the guardian must submit the certificate of guardianship registration along with an official copy of the court judgment to the bank.

Furthermore, the manual organizes reference points for major banking tasks such as transaction history inquiries, deposit account opening, closing, and maturity processing, account transfers and automatic transfer applications, collateral loans and credit loan applications, ATM usage, and the use of check cards and cash cards, and includes a Q&A section related to these matters.

Authorities plan to distribute the manual to banks and organizations related to guardianship work and conduct regular training to prevent inconveniences when guardians conduct financial transactions. They also plan to produce educational videos based on the manual and utilize the manual in education, counseling, and training conducted by related institutions such as guardianship centers. An official from the authorities stated, "Financial authorities will continue to identify inconveniences experienced by financial consumers during financial transactions and improve related systems to enhance the convenience of financial transactions for consumers."