The head of South Korea's central bank on Friday called for efforts to make certain senior citizens are not left behind as the country moves to update its financial sector.
South Korean banks have expanded financial technology, or fintech, in recent years as a growing number of people do their banking on their computers or smartphones without visiting bank branches.
(Yonhap)
The number of smartphone-based banking service users rose 3.6 percent from three months earlier to 77.3 million as of end-March, according to the Bank of Korea. South Korea has a population of 51 million, but some people have multiple smartphones.
Banks have cut the number of their brick-and-mortar bank branches, a move that poses a challenge to some older people who are not familiar with smartphone banking services.
"Technological innovation is a trend that we cannot go against," BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said in a meeting with heads of major banks in Seoul.
He asked heads of major banks to narrow the digital divide for seniors as banks expand innovation in digital finance. (Yonhap)