Woori Bank to Cut Money Transfer Fees

          Having money transfered in Korea always has been a pain of the neck since the transaction fees were too high compared to any other countries. Unless you are covered with some sort of special promotion or on a contract, some customers have to pay the fees even the transation was happened within their bank.

          From this Friday, Woori Bank announced that it would decrease its transation fees at its offline outlets nationwide to help people who are using the service instead of online banking which the fee is much cheaper.

          According to the article, Woori Bank will "...lower charges on remittance of less than 100,000 won ($103) for Woori customers to other banks to 1,000 won ($1.3) from 3,000 won. " (BusinessWeek). Also, the commision on transactions of 100,000 won to 1 million won will be lowered to 2,000 won from 3,000 won. The fees for the intra transfers will be also cut down to 500 won and 1,000 won depending on whether the amount is less or more than 1 million won.

          In an effort to decrease the transaction fees, the government also played an important role to pressure the major banks to cut down its fees. The Fair Trade Commission charged 9.59 billion won in fines last month on eight mojor banks in Korea for fixing foreign currency commission fees. Some pundits are worrying that if the government gets into the action directly, it might promote those major banks to work together and protest against the goverment's action; however, since so many citizens or their service users are finding that the fees are too high in Korea, the article states that other banks are more likely to follow Woori Bank's steps.

          I think it's about time for banks in Korea to lower their service charges. When I had accounts with Bank of America or HSBC Direct, they didn't charge that much for the services, and often they even eliminated the fees if I was using their ATM machines. Therefore, I strongly agree with their efforts to meet customer's demand and needs.

Reference;
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2008/04/123_21942.html

20601008 - 4th Entry