Korean officials hope to enable consumers in that country to use their ATM cards when traveling to the United States and countries in Southeast Asia beginning next year, an official at the Bank of Korea confirms to PaymentsSource.
The central bank is in talks with banks in the U.S. and Southeast Asia to create joint ATM networks, according to the official. “Until now, Korean tourists could only use their credit cards in the aforementioned territories,” he adds. “However, I cannot disclose which banks we are in talks with.”
The joint ATM network would enable Korean cardholders abroad to automatically convert funds withdrawn from their accounts into Korean won, according to the official. “Currently, it looks as though Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and the U.S., in that order, will see this service first,” he adds. “We expect Koreans to save considerably on foreign-exchange fees with this.”
