South Korea to allow forex delivery, commercialize drone taxis
SEOUL — South Korea will allow consumers to receive foreign currencies via non-face-to-face delivery services, to induce competition among service providers and promote innovation, the nation’s fiscal chief said Thursday.
The government will also seek to commercialize urban air mobility services, such as drone taxis, to alleviate the ground traffic congestion and create a new growth engine for the economy.
“Innovation in the foreign exchange sector has recently expanded beyond mere procedural deregulations,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki in a meeting of economy-related ministers on innovative growth strategy, held at Seoul Government Complex.
“In order to trigger (fair) competition among forex service providers and to attract new ones into the market, (the government) will expand the range of exchange and remittance operations for brokerages and credit card companies.”
The action is part of Seoul’s continued policy efforts to revive the stalled economic growth and promote contactless business sectors amid the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under eased rules, forex service providers will be allowed to consign their exchange or remittance operations to a third party, which means that banks may deliver foreign currencies to customers via delivery services and other transportation means.
When a new forex operator starts business in the market, the government will make a review within 30 days to check whether the company is subject to the deregulations.