It was confirmed by the Financial Supervisory Service that a large amount of money exceeding 4 trillion won was remitted from a domestic virtual currency exchange through a bank.
Junsu Lee, Deputy Director of the Financial Supervisory Service, held a briefing today (27th) on 'bank inspections related to large-scale overseas remittances' and said, "Most remittance transactions are structured in which funds transferred from domestic virtual asset exchanges are collected into trading corporation accounts and remitted overseas. Confirmed," he said.
As far as the FSS has identified so far, the amount of foreign currency remittance transactions with the two banks, Woori and Shinhan, is 4.1 trillion won (3.37 billion dollars), which is 2.5 trillion won, which is the amount that these banks originally reported to the FSS. increased to a greater extent.
The number of companies involved in large-scale overseas remittance also increased from the initially reported 8 companies to 22 companies (excluding duplicates).
The investigation into suspicious overseas remittance transactions began last month when Woori and Shinhan Banks caught abnormal foreign exchange transactions in their own audits and reported them to the Financial Supervisory Service.
Earlier, on the 22nd of last month, Woori Bank reported to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) that an abnormal foreign exchange transaction worth 900 billion won over the past year was made at a branch in Seoul during an internal audit.
Shinhan Bank also caught cases of abnormal overseas remittances worth a total of 1.6 trillion won at two branches and notified the FSS.
The FSS started on-site inspections on Woori Bank on the 23rd of last month and Shinhan Bank on the 30th and is conducting inspections.
The FSS has focused on identifying the substance of the transaction by verifying the source of the remittance funds and supporting documents, keeping in mind the possibility that these companies disguised themselves as payment for imported goods such as gold bars during on-site inspections.
As a result of the inspection, the Financial Supervisory Service confirmed that the funds transferred from the domestic virtual asset exchange went through a number of individuals and corporations, including the CEO of a domestic trading corporation, collected in the account of the trading corporation, and then transferred to overseas corporations in the name of payment of imports. .
The FSS identified overseas corporations subject to remittance as general corporations, not overseas virtual asset exchanges.
In particular, there were cases where the representatives of a corporation were the same or a cousin relationship, and one person was seen as a related person, such as concurrently serving as an executive of several corporations.
The Financial Supervisory Service explained that as a result of tracking the flow of funds between accounts, related transactions were confirmed, such as remittances by companies that appear to be related parties at different periods, the FSS explained.
Some speculate that the remittances of these companies may be a transaction aimed at the 'kimchi premium', where the domestic cryptocurrency market is more expensive than overseas.
It has been confirmed that in some transactions, funds flowing from domestic virtual asset exchanges and funds coming through general commerce are mixed and remitted overseas.
By bank, Woori Bank handled a total of 1.6 trillion won ($1.31 billion) in foreign currency remittances over 931 times at five branches from May 3, 2021 to June 9, this year, and Shinhan Bank. From February 23, 2021 to July 4, this year, the FSS found that a total of 2.5 trillion won ($2.06 billion) in foreign currency remittances were handled at 11 branches.
Three of these companies found that their remittance funds also included some normal commerce funds.
The Financial Supervisory Service believes that such overseas remittance behavior may be revealed further.
Earlier, the Financial Supervisory Service requested all banks to self-inspect whether there were transactions similar to the Woori and Shinhan Bank cases and to submit the results by the end of this month.
Transactions subject to inspection include ▲ large-scale remittance transactions by new and small businesses ▲ virtual asset-related remittance transactions ▲ intensive remittance transactions through specific branches.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the size of transactions subject to major inspection is a total of $5.37 billion from 44 companies, including those currently under inspection.
Vice President Lee said, "If an abnormal foreign currency remittance company is additionally confirmed based on the results of inspection by the Financial Supervisory Service and the bank's self-inspection, we plan to notify the prosecution and the Korea Customs Service of the relevant details and take action for reference in investigations."
"In addition, we will closely analyze the results of the bank's self-inspection and, if deemed necessary, carry out additional inspections," he added.