South Korean regulators are investigating $3.4bn worth of “abnormal” foreign exchange transactions at two of the country’s biggest commercial banks for possible money laundering linked to crypto investments.
Unusual currency transactions worth Won4.1tn ($3.4bn) have taken place at two Korean banks — Woori Bank and Shinhan Bank — since February 2021, the Financial Supervisory Service said on Wednesday. Most of the transactions involved crypto exchanges and a local trading company, the FSS said.
After being informed of the irregular deals in June, the FSS has asked all Korean banks to conduct an internal review on all large currency transactions made between January 2021 and June 2022 for potential similar transactions and to submit the results by the end of this month.