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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Beginning next year, the annual limit for no-documentation overseas remittances will be unified at USD 100,000 across all financial sectors, including banks and non-bank financial institutions. The government also plans to implement the Overseas Remittance Integrated System (ORIS) to prevent circumvention of foreign exchange regulations through “split remittances” across multiple service providers.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on December 8 that it will significantly overhaul the existing no-documentation remittance framework to enhance the efficiency of foreign exchange management and improve convenience for everyday foreign exchange transactions.
Currently, Korean residents may send up to USD 5,000 per transaction without documentation when using banks. For transactions exceeding USD 5,000, no-documentation remittances are permitted only through a designated foreign exchange bank, within an annual limit of USD 100,000.
Residents using non-bank financial institutions—such as small-sum overseas remittance providers, securities firms, credit card companies, and savings banks—may remit up to USD 5,000 per transaction without documentation, subject to an annual limit of USD 50,000 per institution.
However, due to the absence of a unified system for monitoring no-documentation remittances across all financial sectors, some users have been able to bypass regulations by splitting remittances among multiple institutions. Additionally, the lower annual limit for non-bank entities and the requirement to use a designated bank for any no-documentation transfer exceeding USD 5,000 have caused inconvenience for users.
To address these issues, the Ministry will launch the Overseas Remittance Integrated System (ORIS) in January next year, enabling real-time, consolidated monitoring of no-documentation remittances across all financial providers. As part of the reform, the longstanding designated foreign exchange bank system—maintained to manage no-documentation remittance limits—will be abolished, and the annual limit for no-documentation remittances will be standardized at USD 100,000 for both banks and non-bank institutions.
알파경제 Paul Lee 특파원(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
