Commercial lender Hana Bank and internet-only Kakao Bank said Monday they have updated their respective mobile services to help locals make international financial transactions amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Hana Bank has expanded the services of its foreigners-only mobile banking app to locals to help limit face-to-face interactions that is usually required when handling international wire services here.

The Hana EZ app provides artificial intelligence and big data-based services to its users including an automatic search tool that them to find banks by typing in account numbers or bank codes. The service is available for banks in Europe only.

The app also calculates money transfer times, taking time differences and holidays of respective countries into account.

By submitting school transcripts, proof of enrollment and selecting an overseas bank, Korean students who have been studying abroad will be granted direct wire transfers.

The app provides mobile services for Western Union Business Solutions, a US-based payment processing services, and is often used to pay university fees. The tuition fees will be submitted in Korean won and the currency rate of the date printed on the related document.

Kakao Bank has decided to fix its international wire transfer fee at $5 for its WU fast overseas remittances services, regardless of the amount. The service originally charged users $6 and $12 for transaction sizes below and above $3,000, respectively.

It allows users to transfer money to banks in 200 nations within a minute. It was launched last year in partnership with US-based payments provider Western Union. 

By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)