Last Year, Domestic Bank Branches Decreased by 311 to 6,094 Compared to the Previous Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Last year, the number of branches of domestic banks continued to decline due to the expansion of non-face-to-face transactions such as mobile banking and efforts to improve branch efficiency.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 30th, as of the end of last year, the total number of branches of domestic banks was 6,094, a decrease of 311 compared to 6,405 at the end of the previous year. The scale of the decrease has also been continuously expanding. In 2018, the number decreased by 23, in 2019 by 57, and in 2020 by 304.

While newly opened branches numbered only 20, closed branches reached 331. NongHyup had the most new branches with 5, followed by Industrial Bank of Korea and Kookmin Bank with 4 each. Shinhan Bank had the highest number of closed branches at 76, followed by Kookmin Bank with 62 and Woori Bank with 55.

The reduction in branches of commercial banks accounted for 230, representing 74% of the total. Regional banks decreased by 57, and special banks by 24. Shinhan Bank had the largest decrease with 75 branches, followed by Kookmin Bank with 58, Woori Bank with 53, Hana Bank with 38, Busan Bank with 20, and Gyeongnam Bank with 14.

By region, branches located in metropolitan areas (the Seoul Capital Area and major cities) decreased by 244, accounting for 78.5% of the total, while non-metropolitan areas saw a decrease of 67 branches.

An official from the Financial Supervisory Service stated, "While respecting banks' autonomy in branch operations, we will guide them to minimize inconvenience to financial users such as the elderly." He added, "To this end, we plan to actively support initiatives such as post office counter partnerships and joint bank branches promoted by the banking sector to protect financial users' access to financial services."

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