A certain portion of expat employees in Korea will be exempted from service charges on their overseas cash transfer when they use the preferred service offered by Standard Chartered Bank Korea.

The commercial bank said the service is applicable to employees from 48 countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Nepal.

The 48 nations were designated by the United Nations and the service will continue until Sept. 19.

Banks operating in Korea have been bolstering their services for foreign customers as the non-Korean population is estimated to have surpassed 1.1 million people, around 2 percent of the total population.

Many local lenders provide expat-only services at some of their major branches staffed with English-speaking service agents.

Some of them are also providing multi-lingual automated teller machine services, and expats in Korea now have international ATM access to their cash.

Standard Chartered has been offering a foreign customer-tailored service dubbed “mosaic banking” by running a foreign customer window at its five branches ― Jongno, Gwanghwamun, Itaewon, Banposeorae and the Korea Trade Center ― in Seoul.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)