Woori Bank is linking financial and telecommunications services to help Mongolian workers and international students settle in South Korea. It aims to ease early living costs by supporting customers from recruitment in Mongolia before entry to opening remittance accounts and signing up for mobile services after arrival.

Woori Bank said on Tuesday it signed a three-way business agreement with Mongolia’s Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and KT to provide specialised finance and telecommunications services for foreign customers.

Under the agreement, the three will offer services by connecting their infrastructure. When TDB recruits customers in Mongolia, it will reflect preferential benefits for its loan and deposit products in advance if customers commit to using Woori Bank’s overseas remittance service and subscribing to KT’s telecommunications network.

After customers enter South Korea, Woori Bank and KT will jointly support finance and telecommunications services. Woori Bank will help customers open direct remittance accounts through branches specialised for foreigners and Sunday-service branches, and offer preferential exchange rates and overseas remittance fees.

KT will apply its lowest-rate mobile service plan. It plans to link the account used for telecom bill payments to a Woori Bank account so customers can receive both financial and telecommunications benefits.

Lee Hae-kwang (이해광), head of Woori Bank's Retail Group, said, "We want to provide financial and telecommunications benefits that are of practical help to foreign customers staying in South Korea." He added, "After successfully establishing the collaboration model, we will expand the partner countries."