[Good morning economy] "There's only ATM here..." Bank stores that keep disappearing.

It turns out that more than 50 domestic bank stores have disappeared in a year.

According to the Bank of Korea's economic statistics system on the 10th, the total number of domestic bank stores (including overseas stores) was 5,849 at the end of the third quarter of last year, down 53 from a year ago (5,902).

The number of bank stores peaked at 7,835 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012 and has been trending down until recently.

Although the decline slowed slightly after falling below 7,000 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017 and below 6,000 at the end of the third quarter of 2022, it is still decreasing every quarter.

Banks have recently combined several branches into one as the proportion of non-face-to-face transactions has increased and the number of customers visiting the window has gradually decreased.

An official from a commercial bank said, "These days, 70-80% of deposits and installment savings or loan applications are made non-face-to-face," adding, "There is an inevitable aspect of reducing stores to improve cost efficiency."

However, there is a gap in the number of stores between regions in the process, and it is constantly pointed out that elderly people who are not familiar with non-face-to-face transactions may experience inconvenience.

In a report last month, the Korea Financial Research Institute analyzed that the more aging regions, the less accessible bank stores are, and the financial alienation of the elderly is likely to intensify.

AI Anchor: Y-GO
Caption editing: Jeong Eui-jin