Korea incorporation Korea branch office Korea subsidiary Korea business setup EOR Korea Korea market entry Korea business registration Korea company registration Korea corporate registration foreign direct investment Korea

Korea Corporate Bank Account: The 20-Day Rule Nobody Warns You About

Irene Kim

You can get the entity right, the capital wired, the registration certificate in hand, and still be unable to operate. The reason is almost always the bank account.

Here is the part that catches foreign companies cold. Once you open your corporate account at one Korean bank, opening an account at a different bank is restricted for 20 business days. That is a month of calendar time. You effectively get one choice, and you make it at the moment you are least informed.

Invest KOREA, the government's official foreign investment agency, states this plainly in its incorporation procedure: "Choose the bank carefully, because opening an account at another bank is restricted for 20 business days." Most founders read past that line. The ones who do not read past it save themselves a very expensive month.

You Need Two Different Accounts, Not One

This is the single biggest source of confusion, and it is why people think Korean banking is broken when it is simply sequenced.

	Temporary account	Corporate account
Opened when	Before the company exists	After business registration
Opened by	The foreign investor, in their own name	The company, as a legal entity
Purpose	Receive the investment capital from overseas	Operate the business
Where	A foreign exchange bank in Korea	A foreign exchange bank in Korea
Produces	Proof of payment of stock subscription money, required by the court	Your working banking relationship

The temporary account is not optional and it is not the same thing as your corporate account. It exists because the court registry needs evidence that the capital was actually paid in before it will register the company. The company cannot hold an account before it legally exists, so the capital lands in an account in the investor's name first.

For companies with paid-in capital under KRW 1 billion, a bank account balance certificate can be submitted instead, and those funds can be withdrawn for business purposes from the following day. Above that threshold, the stricter certificate of payment route applies.

Setting up in Korea and want the banking sequence handled properly? See Pearson & Partners Korea's incorporation service.

The Official Sequence, Step by Step

This is Invest KOREA's published procedure for a foreign-invested company. The banking steps are 2 and 6, and they sit at opposite ends of the process.

#	Step	Where	Official timing
1	Foreign Direct Investment notification	KOTRA or a foreign exchange bank	Immediate
2	Remittance of investment funds to a temporary account	Foreign exchange bank	2 to 3 days
3	Registration of incorporation	Court registry office	2 to 3 days
4	Authorisations and permits, where the business needs them	Competent authority	Varies
5	Notification of incorporation and business registration	Any tax office	3 to 5 days
6	Opening the corporate bank account	Foreign exchange bank	Immediate
7	Registration of foreign-invested company	KOTRA or the bank that took the FDI notification	Immediate

Note what the official timings assume. They describe processing time once correct documents are in hand. They do not include drafting articles of incorporation, obtaining apostilles abroad, or waiting on a corporate shareholder's home-country paperwork. Our week-by-week breakdown of what Korea registration actually takes covers the realistic calendar.

Why the Bank Lock Exists

The restriction is not aimed at foreign investors. It is an anti-money-laundering control, designed to stop the mass opening of accounts used for fraud and for accounts held under borrowed names. Korean banks apply short-term limits on opening multiple accounts across institutions, and foreign-owned companies sit in a higher-scrutiny category by default.

The practical consequences for you are unchanged by the reason behind it:

What you assume	What actually happens
"We'll open with one bank now and shop around later"	Later is 20 business days away
"We'll open accounts with two banks for redundancy"	The second one is restricted
"If the service is poor we'll just switch"	Switching costs you a month of operations
"Any branch will do"	Branch-level experience with foreign-invested companies varies enormously

How to Choose Before You Are Locked In

Because the choice is effectively one-shot, make it on criteria that matter over years rather than on whichever branch is closest to your office.

Criterion	Why it matters	What to ask
Foreign exchange bank status	Required for FDI remittance and for outbound payments	Confirm the branch handles foreign exchange, not just the bank
Branch experience with foreign-invested companies	An inexperienced branch will ask for documents that do not exist	How many FIE accounts has this branch opened this year
English-capable relationship manager	You will need one for years, not for one appointment	Is there a named contact, and what happens when they rotate
Online banking for non-resident representatives	Many systems assume a Korean resident with a domestic phone number and ID	Can a non-resident director authorise transfers remotely
Outbound remittance handling	Dividends, royalties and intercompany payments all leave through this bank	What documentation is required per transfer type
Corporate card and payroll integration	Payroll runs monthly from day one	Can payroll files be uploaded, and in what format

The online banking question is the one most often skipped and most often regretted. A representative director who lives abroad can find themselves holding an account they cannot practically operate.

Documents the Bank Will Want

For the corporate account, Invest KOREA lists the core set:

Certificate of incorporation registration
Copy of the business licence
Seal impression certificate
Corporate seal
Copy of the representative's passport
Shareholder lists

Expect the bank to go further than this list. Beneficial ownership information, the group structure above your Korean entity, and an explanation of the business purpose are now standard requests under anti-money-laundering rules. A shareholder chart that stops at a holding company in a low-disclosure jurisdiction will generate questions, and answering them late costs you weeks.

Three Traps Around the Banking Steps

1. The customs declaration column

If investment funds are hand-carried into Korea as foreign currency rather than wired, they must be declared to customs. Invest KOREA warns specifically that the declaration must use the "Purpose of im/export" column. Get that wrong and the funds are not recognised as foreign direct investment at all, which unravels the FDI notification you already filed.

2. The 60-day registration deadline

Registration of the foreign-invested company must be completed within 60 days following payment of the object of investment. This is the step that converts your filings into recognised FIE status, and it is frequently forgotten once the company is operating and everyone has moved on. Our guide to foreign investment reporting in Korea covers what must be filed and when.

3. Apostille versus consular notarisation

Corporate documents from abroad need authentication. Apostille applies only where the issuing country is a signatory to the Hague Apostille Convention. Where it is not, only notarisation by the Korean consulate in that country is valid. Discovering this after the documents have been apostilled in a non-signatory country means starting again.

Get the Sequence Right From the Start

Banking is not a step that follows incorporation. It brackets it. The temporary account comes before the court registration, the corporate account comes after the tax office, and a wrong bank choice at step 6 costs you 20 business days you cannot buy back.

Pearson & Partners Korea's incorporation service handles the full sequence, including the banking relationship, so the choice is made with information rather than under time pressure.

Work With Pearson & Partners Korea

Pearson & Partners Korea handles company incorporation and branch registration for foreign companies, alongside foreign investment reporting under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act, corporate tax and accounting, Employer of Record (EOR), payroll and the four mandatory social insurances, and visa advisory including D-8 sponsorship.

We sit with clients through the bank meeting rather than handing over a document list, because the questions a branch asks a foreign-owned company are not the ones on any checklist.

More at pearsonkorea.com and our Insights hub.

Contact us:
Web: pearsonkorea.com/contactus
Phone: 02 6952 7579
Office: 서울특별시 강남구 영동대로 511, WTC 트레이드타워 30층 (06164)

Official sources: Invest KOREA's incorporation procedure for foreign-invested companies sets out the seven-step sequence, the 20-business-day restriction and the document lists. KOTRA receives FDI notifications and FIE registrations. The Supreme Court Internet Registry Office publishes the court registration requirements. The National Tax Service issues the business registration certificate. The Korea Customs Service handles foreign currency declarations, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes apostille guidance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I open a corporate bank account in Korea before my company is registered?
No. The corporate account requires the certificate of incorporation registration and the business licence. Before the company exists, investment capital goes into a temporary account opened in the investor's own name.

What is the 20-business-day bank restriction in Korea?
After opening an account, opening an account at a different bank is restricted for 20 business days. It is an anti-money-laundering control, and it means your first bank choice is effectively your only near-term choice.

What documents do I need to open a corporate bank account in Korea?
The certificate of incorporation registration, a copy of the business licence, a seal impression certificate, the corporate seal, a copy of the representative's passport, and shareholder lists. Banks commonly also request beneficial ownership details and the group structure.

Do I need a Korean resident director to open the account?
Not as a legal requirement for the account itself, but many banking systems assume a Korean resident with a domestic phone number and identity verification. Confirm how a non-resident representative director will operate online banking before you choose the bank.

What is the temporary account for?
Receiving the foreign investment capital from overseas before the company legally exists, so that proof of payment can be submitted to the court registry.

Can investment funds be hand-carried into Korea instead of wired?
Yes, but the foreign currency must be declared to customs, and the declaration must state the purpose correctly, or the funds will not be recognised as foreign direct investment.

How long after paying in capital must the foreign-invested company be registered?
Within 60 days following payment of the object of investment.

Is the process different for a branch office?
Yes. A branch is not a separate legal entity and follows a different registration and banking path. See our branch registration guide for the comparison.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or banking advice. Bank requirements vary by institution and branch, and rules change. Confirm your position with a qualified adviser before acting.

Tags: Korea corporate bank account, open bank account Korea company, Korea business bank account foreign company, Korea temporary account FDI, foreign exchange bank Korea, Korea incorporation, Korea company registration, Korea business registration, foreign direct investment Korea, FDI notification Korea, foreign-invested company registration Korea, Korea branch registration, Korea market entry, D-8 visa Korea, EOR Korea, Korea corporate tax, Pearson Partners Korea