The following discussion provides an overview of private banking in Asia for expats. All the information is based on my personal experience of living in several countries in APAC and could certainly be helpful for expats who already live here or are considering relocation.
My most recent and by far the worst experience has been with dealing with Mainland Chinese banks. In my previous blog I briefly discussed some inconveniences related to such basic feature as ATM card and the number of pitfalls associated with it. The major inconvenience with bank account in China is transferring money overseas which has also been discussed before.
Another problem is the web access to your account. Even if you manage to install the required software on your laptop or PC, bear in mind that the features would be very basic, such as balance check only. However, setting your web banking can be either very complicated or outright impossible feat to accomplish. The software, that your are required to install, would most likely work properly only with Chinese based operating system, even if the interface has an English option. Most software require USB lock device installation and would only work with the computer you have installed the software on. So, if you ever have to reinstall your OS, the whole process must be repeated, not to mention that losing your USB lock will require a trip to your branch and a waiting period of at least 10 business days before you can get a new one.
Next -- banking in Korea. You can open an account in one of the major banks in Korea quite easily but I would only recommend doing it in Seoul: in smaller cities virtually no one speaks English in the banks. Transferring money overseas is doable but complicated, although not as bad as in China. You need to go to a branch personally to sign a ridiculous amount of paperwork, your passport will be scanned and stamped with a special chop since there is an annual limit of how much money you can wire overseas. Again, local help is highly desirable unless you are dealing with one of the downtown branches in Seoul where many bank clerks do speak decent level of English.
Banking online is by far the most secure I've ever seen with many levels of encryption and protection which also makes it the least convenient. However, it allows you to do quite a few transactions such as paying bills, services and transferring funds to individuals within Korea to any bank. Also you need a special code card in order to perform these types of transactions. The card is convenient to carry around and you can keep a backup somewhere in case you lose it. The major problem is that every year you have to renew your web banking license -- a special file that is stored in your computer. The renewal process is extremely convoluted but can be done online. However, I found that it only works properly in Korean version, at least in Kookmin Bank that I'm most familiar with. So, once again, you need a Korean speaking/reading buddy to help you out with that. And one more thing, the browser support for Firefox or other browsers could be a problem, so stick with IE.
The biggest problem I've encountered with Korean banks is that their ATM card is useless outside of Korea! Even though it shows PLUS logo on it, it usually doesn't work overseas. You will find out that most ATMs in other countries would refuse your transactions, although cash advance feature of credit cards should work.
The last thing to bear in mind is that once you have passed the immigration in the airport in Seoul or Pusan, there will be no any ATMs on the other side. This means that you need to get your cash before passing passport control. This has to do with certain restrictions of Korean government which I'm unable to comprehend.
Next will be an overview of banking in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Comments