Woori Bank is expanding the use of usance, mainly used in letter-of-credit (L/C) transactions, to import trades conducted through remittances. Importers can repay up to 1 year after the bank first settles payments to overseas counterparties.

Woori Bank said on Tuesday it will launch “Woori Remittance USANCE” to support importers’ payment settlement and cash management.

Usance is a system in which a bank pays an overseas exporter on behalf of an importer first, and the importer repays the bank after the agreed period.

Woori Remittance USANCE applies usance to remittance-based import trades in which payments are sent directly to overseas counterparties without an L/C. Importers can delay settlement by up to 1 year, while overseas exporters can receive payments in advance.

It can be used for both advance remittances, in which payments are made before receiving goods, and post remittances, in which payments are made after receiving goods. With a single agreement, customers can use both remittance-based and L/C-based import transactions.

Kang Eom-pil (강엄필), head of Woori Bank’s foreign exchange business department, said, “Now that usance can be used for remittance transactions as well, it should ease importers’ funding burden.”

Separately, Woori Bank signed a main-banking business agreement with the Korea Packaging Material Recycling Business Mutual Aid Cooperative to strengthen support for member companies. Over the next three years, Woori Bank plans to provide financial and non-financial services as the cooperative’s main bank, including ESG financial support and business succession consulting tailored to members’ growth stages and financial needs.