1,068 Administrative Sanctions for Foreign Exchange Transaction Violations Last Year... Overseas Direct Investment Most Frequent

FSS Announces 2024 Status of Foreign Exchange Transaction Violations
Over 1,100 Cases Detected, Most Involving Corporations
Majority of Violations Related to Overseas Direct Investment and Reporting Obligations

The Financial Supervisory Service decided to impose administrative sanctions on 1,063 cases last year after inspecting violations of reporting and notification requirements during foreign currency remittance and related processes.

The Financial Supervisory Service announced the '2024 Status of Foreign Exchange Transaction Violation Measures' and stated that there were a total of 1,137 cases in which parties to foreign exchange transactions violated statutory reporting or notification obligations during processes such as foreign currency remittance.

Of these, 1,068 cases were subject to administrative sanctions (fines or warnings). There were 69 cases that were reported to investigative authorities.

By type of party, corporations accounted for the majority with 66.1% (751 cases), while individuals accounted for 33.9% (386 cases).

Over the past five years, the number of foreign exchange transaction violation cases was 923 in 2020, 1,408 in 2021, 702 in 2022, 786 in 2023, and 1,137 in 2024.

By transaction type, violations related to overseas direct investment (649 cases) were the most frequent, followed by monetary loans (159 cases), real estate transactions (100 cases), and securities trading (49 cases).

By type of obligation, initial reporting (529 cases) was the most common, followed by change reporting or notification (499 cases), and post-reporting (89 cases). Among the violations, there were cases in which parties to foreign exchange transactions were sanctioned because they were not well aware of the statutory reporting or notification requirements.

The Financial Supervisory Service stated, "We will provide guidance on major frequent violation cases and important points to enhance the understanding of relevant laws among parties to foreign exchange transactions, and we will continue to encourage banks in direct contact with financial consumers to thoroughly inform them of statutory obligations when handling foreign exchange transactions."