The limit for prepaid cards exclusively for foreign visitors to Korea has been doubled to KRW 1 million. Shown is a family taking photos on Jan. 7 at Hongjecheon Artificial Waterfall in Seoul's Seodaemun-gu District. (Lee Jeongwoo)

By Aisylu Akhmetzianova

The limit for prepaid cards exclusively for foreign visitors has been doubled to KRW 1 million.

The Financial Services Commission on Jan. 28 said it designated 34 new cases including such cards as innovative financial services.

Given the potential difficulty of international  travelers confirming their identities in Korea, Viva Republica, a domestic fintech leader, had its prepaid e-payment service for such visitors doubled from KRW 500,000 to KRW 1 million.

The new measures are expected to lessen hassles faced by non-Korean users like the inconvenience of carrying cash, risk of losing it and transaction fees when paying by credit cards issued in their home countries.

The commission's support for multilingual financial services is intended to boost foreign visitor convenience in finance and have a positive effect on stimulating tourism in the country.

Other new services included a service for app users linking bank affiliate accounts for topping up prepaid cards between Hecto Financial and Standard Chartered Bank Korea, as well as the Korea Exchange's software as a service for internal terminals of financial institutions.

aisylu@korea.kr