Hooyeon Kim
South Korean financial regulators are probing abnormal foreign-exchange transactions at some of the country’s largest commercial banks for any links to money laundering or currency speculation using crypto assets, an official said.
Some of the transactions involved crypto exchanges, according to a senior Financial Supervisory Service official who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the investigation. The person didn’t identify the exchanges. Shinhan Bank is one of the lenders being probed, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Yonhap News Agency reported earlier that Woori Bank was involved in a transaction of about 800 billion won ($611 million) on June 23, and Shinhan Bank in a trade of 1 trillion won on June 30. The regulator is examining whether laws on money laundering and foreign-exchange trading were broken, according to Yonhap. Regulators have strengthened collaboration with the country’s prosecutors on the probe, the report also said.
An FSS spokesperson confirmed the details of the Yonhap report. A Shinhan Bank spokesperson confirmed that a regulatory probe is under way, while adding that the exact size of the transaction and its relation to crypto exchanges can only be revealed once the investigation concludes.
Representatives for Woori Bank didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the prosecutors office declined to comment.
