5% Savings Account Frenzy... Is Hana Bank the Ultimate Winner?

1.32 Million Sign Up in 3 Days
Bank Secures New Customers and Deposits
Customers Earn 82,000 Won Interest After 1 Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] 366.56 billion KRW.

This is the subscription amount for the “Hana More Savings” special sale held from the 3rd to the 5th to commemorate Hana Bank’s brand name change (KEB Hana Bank → Hana Bank). As of 5 PM on that day, the number of subscriptions was 1,323,745 accounts. A Hana Bank official stated, “Since subscription processing was continuing at branches past 5 PM, the final number of subscribers is expected to increase slightly.”

This savings product offers a base interest rate of 3.56% per annum, with an additional 0.2 percentage points for subscribing through online channels, and 1.25 percentage points for automatic transfers registered via Hana Bank deposit and withdrawal accounts, allowing customers to earn up to a maximum interest rate of 5.01%. In today’s era of ultra-low interest rates, people commented, “We are grateful for a 5% interest rate.”

News of the 5% interest rate triggered a three-day “savings frenzy.” Tens of thousands of people accessed the Hana Bank Hana One Q application (app) simultaneously to subscribe to this product, and hundreds of customers crowded into branches, forming packed lines with barely any space to move.

Whether at the app or branches, waiting times of over an hour were common, and some online community reviews reported waiting times of up to 4 hours.

The subscription limit for this savings product is up to 300,000 KRW, so the interest customers can receive at maturity, excluding taxes (15.4%), is 82,650 KRW. However, customers expressed satisfaction, saying, “We subscribed because it offers a higher interest rate compared to other savings products.”

Hana Bank gained several ancillary benefits from this event. First, it secured deposits stably. The amount collected by Hana Bank during the three-day event was 366.56 billion KRW. Assuming all subscribers maintain their accounts until maturity, Hana Bank can procure deposits totaling 4.39872 trillion KRW over the next year. Of course, the interest paid is higher than that for regular deposit and withdrawal accounts, so costs are somewhat higher, but the bank can use these secured deposits as a basis for loan operations.

Also, since the newly acquired customers are expected to use the bank for at least one year, the bank benefits financially when considering cost and revenue. It is reported that a significant number among the 1.32 million subscribers are new customers.

Furthermore, the bank successfully imprinted the image of “Hana Bank starting fresh without KEB” on customers. The marketing effect was substantial.

However, it is regrettable that customers who wanted to subscribe to the savings product had to wait for hours, and some customers who opened the app or visited branches for other services such as currency exchange, loans, maturity extensions, or transfers were unable to complete their transactions and left without service.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.