Hana Bank's International Trade Marketing Department's team leader Kim Sang-bong, left, poses with the team's second-in-command Park Min-joo, right, and assistant manager Khin Lay Phyu from Myanmar, during a recent group interview with The Korea Times at the bank's headquarters in downtown Seoul. Korea Times photo by Yi Whan-woo

Banking services for guest workers are becoming increasingly crucial, as more foreign workers are entering and are opening bank accounts in Korea to manage their earnings.

Catering to the needs of these customers is a team of 13 members, evolved from smaller units previously operated by Hana Bank and Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), which Hana acquired in 2015.

The services primarily center on one-on-one consulting via telephone by 11 staffer, one each from Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan and two each from Thailand and Vietnam.

All nine countries are part of the 16 nations where Korea has been opening the door for manual laborers under the E-9 visa.

The quota for corresponding workers has been hiked to a record-high 165,000 this year.

If necessary, the 11 staffer are dispatched to one of Hana Bank's 16 retail branches that are open on Sundays for migrant workers in their communities nationwide.

"We hope to hire more staff, taking into account the growing number of guest workers and the languages they speak," said Kim Sang-bong, who leads the 13-member team.

His comment came as wire transfers by guest workers accounted for 7.7 percent of Hana Bank's profits from foreign exchange transactions in 2023.

Serving at Hana Bank for more than a decade, Kim was a founding member of the team and has been integral to developing relevant services.

These include easier and more secure ID verification of international customers, quicker wire transfer of their money and Hana EZ, a hassle-free mobile banking app available in 16 languages.

"I am glad to see our team is expanding, especially considering migrant workers find our international staff easier to approach for help than Korean staff," he said.

Kim is assisted by the team's second-in-command Park Min-joo who was assigned to the job in January.

She entered Hana Bank in 2009 and was particularly interested in foreign exchange transactions and marketing.

She has worked at multiple retail branches where she had "a great opportunity to develop cultural understanding and communicative skills with international customers."

"For instance, I used to work at a branch in Seoul's Seocho District where we had native English language speakers working at cram schools and foreign babysitters working at Korean homes as our customers," Park said.

She reckoned quality banking services for migrant workers is "a must," saying, "They've been living in Korean society and will continue to do so."

Among the international staff is Khin Lay Phyu from Myanmar, who learned Korean on her own before being hired by Hana Bank in 2019.

While she was a computer science major back home, her self-taught Korean was sufficient for her to be hired at the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in Myanmar.

Living in Korea for nearly 10 years, Phyu developed financial knowledge in Korean as she worked part-time at Hana Bank while studying for her master's degree on early childhood education at Ewha Womans University.

"I am proud to serve as a bridge between Hana Bank and Myanmar customers, narrowing cultural gaps between the two sides," she said, explaining that owning a bank account for financial purposes in Myanmar is not as common as in Korea.

A permeant resident of Korea, Phyu expressed hope to start her own business here in the future.