The Financial Supervisory Service and the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 20th that they will start a 'retirement pension physical transfer preliminary inquiry service' from the 21st, allowing individuals to check in advance whether they can transfer their retirement pension products to a new retirement pension business operator.
The retirement pension physical transfer refers to the system of moving a retirement pension product subscribed to one financial institution, such as a bank, securities firm, or insurance company, to another financial institution without any changes. Since its start in October of last year, it has recorded a cumulative usage of 87,000 cases and 5.1 trillion won over approximately eight months.
Previously, subscribers could only verify whether a physical transfer was possible after first opening an account with the retirement pension business operator they intended to transfer to and applying for the physical transfer. With the introduction of this service, subscribers can first check the physical transfer availability of products across multiple retirement pension business operators and choose a retirement pension business operator based on these results.
The preliminary inquiry service for physical transfer can only be applied for online, such as through websites and mobile apps. Applications can be submitted through the menu opened on the website or mobile app of the already subscribed retirement pension business operators. After checking the inquiry results, if the subscriber decides to proceed with the physical transfer, they must select a retirement pension business operator and open an account before submitting a separate physical transfer application.
An FSS official noted, "Since subscribers can check for physical transferable products by retirement pension business operator without having to open an account in advance, the convenience for subscribers will be significantly enhanced. Moreover, it is expected that the expansion of choices will promote healthy competition in the retirement pension market."