A man walks past an ATM of Woori Bank in Seoul on June 21. (Yonhap)
About 83.2 percent of the bank services in South Korea involving withdrawals and deposits of bank accounts took place online in the first quarter of this year.
According to the Economic Statistics System of the Bank of Korea, the percentage of online banking among the total number of financial transfers between accounts went up each quarter from 79.8 percent in the Q1 of 2023. It marked the highest figure ever.
Online banking refers to the services available through a bank's homepage or mobile application, ranging from money transfers to loan applications.
South Koreans have been relying more on online banking since the government first started tally in the Q1 of 2005, when 16.5 percent of the financial transfers happened online. The figure surpassed the 50 percent mark for the first time in Q3 of 2018.
In contrast, only 4.1 percent of the services related to withdrawal or deposit in Q1 of this year took place over the actual bank counter, the lowest figure ever. Such services via cash dispenser or ATMs accounted for 11 percent in the same period, also the lowest ever.
With more people opting to use their phones and computers for banking, more banks are reducing the number of their branches and ATMs.
The most recent BOK statistics show that there were 3,905 branches of local banks in the country in Q4 of last year, down from 5,666 from Q4 in 2013. The number of ATMs also went down to 20,308 from 31,128 during the same period.
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