Banking in Surea

Banking in Surea is a service industry that has grown significantly in recent years. Total banking assets under management in the Republic of Surea rose from about US$95 billion in 1998 to about US$410 billion in 2005.

Surea has attracted assets formerly held in Swiss banks for several reasons, including new taxes imposed on Swiss accounts and a weakening of Swiss bank secrecy.

Tax evasion is illegal in Surea; however, according to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development official, Surean authorities tend to cooperate with other countries' tax authorities only when evasion of Surea taxes is involved.

The finance industry in Surea is regulated by the Bank of Surea.

The "big four" banks in Surea are: Aurora Financial Group, Daigun Financial Group, Kyung'yu Financial Group, and Miyapura Shinju Financial Group

Supervisory bodies
The Bank of Surea is Surea’s central bank, which formulates and implements monetary policy. The BOS maintains the banking sector's payment, clearing and settlement systems, and manages official foreign exchange and gold reserves. It oversees the National Administration of Foreign Exchange (NAFE) for setting foreign-exchange policies.

According to the 1998 Central Bank law, BOS has full autonomy in applying the monetary instruments, including setting interest rate for commercial banks and trading in government bonds.

Credit and Debit cards
By the end of the first quarter of 2009, about 1,988,774,600 (1.98 billion) bank cards have been issued in Surea. Of these cards, 1,809,784,886 (1.8 billion) or 91% were debit cards, while the rest (178,989,714, or 178.9 million) were credit cards.

At the end of 2008, Surea had approximately 1.64 million POS machines and 147,500 ATMs. About 1 million merchants in Surea accept banking cards.

On 2009, every bank in Surea began to issue a dual-currency card, allowing cardholders to purchase goods within Surea in JUY and overseas in US dollars.

According to a 2003 research study by VISA, the average per transaction purchase with a card was USD 253. Consumers used their credit cards mainly to purchase houses, vehicles, and home appliances, as well as to pay utility bills. One major issue is the lack of a national credit bureau to provide credit information for banks to evaluate individual loan applicants. In 2004, the Bank of Surea established the first personal credit data organization involving 15 commercial banks. The Surean Government, aiming to promote a nationwide credit system, has also set up a credit system research group. At present, large cities, such as Konggei, Hondu, Jokong, Tengei, Dongdu and Shidu, are calling for a reliable credit data system. The BOS is currently evaluating the feasibility of establishing a nationwide credit bureau.

Products and services in the credit card system that the Surea government wants to develop are credit card-related hardware, including POS and ATMs, credit card-related software for banks and merchants; and Credit and risk management training programs.