No. of bank branches shrinks 20% since pandemic, but agency banking pilot stalls

The total number of bank branches nationwide has fallen by nearly 20 percent since the COVID-19 pandemic, while the government’s pilot project for bank agency services, designed to improve consumer financial access, has made little headway, according to an opposition lawmaker Sunday. Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the People Power Party cited data from the Korea Federation of Banks showing that domestic banks operated 5,654 branches at the end of 2019, but the figure dropped to 4,572 by the end of this July, a decline of 19.1 percent over five years and seven months. Branch closures occurred every year and across all regions during the period. Daegu saw the sharpest contraction, with its branch count falling 23.6 percent from 292 to 223, followed by Seoul, which recorded a 22.6 percent decline from 1,864 to 1,443. Banks have been shutting down or consolidating offline branches to streamline operations amid the growing digitalization of financial services. To prevent financial exclusion, particularly for older adults and people in less accessible regions, the Financial Services Commission (FSC),Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times