Wireless Week: Mobile phones to make credit cards obsolete

It looks like the Korean Ministry of Finance and Economy is serious about enabling competition for online banking services in Korea.

On Tuesday, the Cabinet passed a bill that allows non-financial companies to operate online banking services. The new rules, drafted by the Ministry of Finance and Economy, will be effective from early next year. Among the online financial business areas opened up are electronic money transfers, the issuance of debit cards, and online transaction settlement. The law requires non-financial companies with over 500 million won in capital to register with the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) before initiating online banking services. This is expected to encourage the expansion plans of telecom operators into the financial field.