Korea, Democratic People's Republic of (DPRK) - Banking and securities

The Central Bank, established in 1946, is the sole recipient of national revenues and the repository for all precious metals. It supplies basic operating funds to various sectors of the economy and is subordinate to the Ministry of Finance. The Central Bank is also an administrative organ that executes the fiscal policies of the State Planning Commission. It supervises the Foreign Trade Bank, established in 1959, and the Industrial Bank, established in 1964. The latter provides loans and credits to farm and fishing cooperatives and has an extensive system of branches which help to manage the financial operations of all cooperatives.

The Kumgang Bank is a specialized bank that handles transactions of foreign trade organizations dealing with exports and imports of machinery, metals, mineral products, and chemical products. The Daesong Bank handles transactions of the Daesong Trading Co. and other trading organizations. There were also three joint venture banks, as of 1994. As of 1997, the Central Bank had a network of 227 local branches. Another state bank is the Changgwang Credit Bank, founded in 1983. A consortium of 60 Western countries (including Russia) filed suit in 1996 in a US district court against the DPRK's Foreign Trade Bank for a total of $1.4 billion in principal and accumulated interest.

There are savings facilities at all post offices, in industrial enterprises, and in the "trust" sections in the agricultural cooperatives. Through the latter, large farm and fishing cooperatives perform local banking functions, especially the raising and allocation of capital for local needs.

There are no securities exchanges in the DPRK.