The government decided on Monday to extend its guaranteeing to foreign currency deposits, including the dollar, yen and euro. The Financial Services Commission said that W50 million, the guaranteeing limit, will be applied based on the exchange rate when withdrawals are made rather than when the initial deposits are made, which means losses caused by exchange rate fluctuation will not be covered by the depositor protection law.

In addition, since the depositor protection law is applied separately to each financial institution, a depositor who has dealings with three to four banks can be guaranteed W50 million separately in each bank. Furthermore, even if a married couple or family has separate foreign currency accounts in the same bank, W50 million will be guaranteed to each individual. If a person has several accounts in the same bank, he or she will be guaranteed up to a total to 50 million.

(englishnews@chosun.com )