[Report] First Day of 10-Person Limit Inside Bank Branches... Over 20 People Crowded Together 'End-of-Month Congestion'

Many Branches Have Over 10 Waiting Customers
Many Branch Entrances Lack 'Customer Waiting Line' Markings
Bankers Association: "Strengthened Social Distancing at Bank Branches from the 28th"
Bank Branches: "No Enforcement, Circumstances Vary by Bank"

[Asia Economy Reporters Sunmi Park and Byungseon Gong] At 2:20 p.m. on the 28th, at the Yeouido Kookmin Bank branch, nearly 30 people were sitting in groups of three or five, holding their waiting tickets. The bank counters were already full, and the waiting number displayed on the ticket machine was 13. There was no sufficient waiting space in front of the in-branch ATMs, so people were packed closely together. Although everyone was wearing masks, dozens of people gathered indoors, and customers chatting during their wait were seen here and there.

On the 28th, the first day of strengthened social distancing measures at bank branches in line with the government's 'Year-end and New Year Special Quarantine Reinforcement Measures,' most of the eight major downtown Seoul commercial bank branches visited did not comply with the guidelines such as limiting indoor waiting customers to 10 or fewer, sitting with one seat apart, and maintaining a 2-meter (minimum 1.5-meter) distance between staff and customers. Instead, the branches were more crowded than usual with dozens of people trying to catch up on delayed banking tasks at the end of the month.

Inside the Euljiro Woori Bank branch, after 2 p.m., the number of waiting customers quickly surged to 22. Some customers, aware of the COVID-19 situation, took a number and waited outside the door. At a similar time, the Yeouido Shinhan Bank branch also had about 20 people inside due to the continuous influx. Staff who had to measure temperatures and limit the number of people at the entrance were often absent because they were assisting customers, resulting in some customers entering without temperature checks.

Although signs stating that indoor waiting customers should be limited to 10 were visible in many commercial bank branches, it was rare to see branches enforcing the guideline by having excess customers wait outside once the number exceeded 10. Only about half of the branches complied with the guideline to mark 'customer waiting lines' at the entrance for customers who could not enter due to the limit.

"End-of-month rush... sudden guidelines, not yet prepared"

Bank officials collectively expressed that there were limitations in immediately implementing the social distancing reinforcement guidelines suddenly announced by the Korea Federation of Banks. They complained that the guidelines were issued without considering the situation of each branch during the busy end-of-month period. Although branch sizes vary, the waiting customer limit is uniformly set at 10.

One bank official said, "In fact, since March 8, commercial bank branch hours have been shortened by one hour due to COVID-19, and staff vacations and training have been encouraged to reduce crowding. Limiting the number of waiting customers during a busy period is practically difficult to enforce." Another official explained, "The guidelines include a clause allowing flexible implementation according to each branch's situation, so they are not mandatory," adding, "There has been no official notice from headquarters regarding the Federation of Banks' guidelines yet."

On the first day of the reinforced social distancing measures at bank branches on the 28th, many banks including Kookmin Bank and IBK focused on creating internal distancing guidelines suited to their situations without notifying branches of the related guidelines. The Federation explained, "Due to a sudden increase in COVID-19 cases, we gathered opinions from several commercial banks on the 24th and finalized the content. Since each bank's circumstances differ and the guidelines were created abruptly, they were intended more to raise awareness than to be mandatory."

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