Korea’s Real Name Transaction Act Strengthened: Korea’s Banking Law Basics

The National Assembly of Korea, in May of 2014, passed an amendment to the Act Concerning Financial Transactions by Real Name and Confidentiality Protection (“Real Name Transactions Act”).

The Real Name Transactions Act, prior to this amendment, only, imposed fines on employees of financial institutions that violated the law, but did not impose these fines on those that lend or borrow a name/identification details in order to engage in a transaction.

The new Real Name Transactions Act shall be enforced from the end of November of 2014.

Potential penalties for violation of this Act include imprisonment up to 5 years or a fine of up to KRW 50  million.  The administrative fines for employees of financial institutions is increased from KRW 5 million to KRW 30 milllion.

The Real Name Transactions Act, also, imposes an affirmative duty on the employees of financial institutions, in some cases, to explain the details of the law.
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Sean Hayes may be contacted at: [email protected]

Sean Hayes is co-chair of the Korea Practice Team at IPG Legal. He is the first non-Korean attorney to have worked for the Korean court system (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a regular member of a Korean law faculty. Sean is ranked, for Korea, as one of only two non-Korean lawyers as a Top Attorney by AsiaLaw.

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