Banks must post online exchange commissions

For the benefit of customers, Korean banks will be required to post on their website how much commission they take for currency exchange services starting at the end of the month.

The Financial Supervisory Service’s (FSS) consumer protection committee decided on Friday that the banks should publicly post the commission rate for each currency in addition to the exchange rate.

Banks decide the commission they take for an exchange based on the currency, which encourages the practice of taking higher commissions on currencies that are rarely traded in Korea.

On Wednesday morning, the won was valued at 1,023 to the U.S. dollar, but at banks customers were paying 1,040.9 won to buy a dollar, meaning that the commission being taken was 17.9 won per dollar.

The FSS’s new rule will give travelers the right to choose whether they want to exchange cash before arriving in Korea or use credit cards.

Most banks impose a commission of about 1.75 percent on oft-traded notes such as U.S. dollars.

The rate is slightly more, 1.98 percent, for the euro, British pound, Australian dollar and Hong Kong dollar and is 4.9 percent for the Chinese yuan and Thai baht.

BY KIM WON-BAE, KIM JI-YOON [jiyoon.kim@joongang.co.kr]