6.6 Trillion Won in Dormant Savings and Deposits in Mutual Finance... "Please Claim Your Ownership"

Status of Long-term Unwithdrawn Savings and Deposits Over 1 Year After Maturity (Unit: 100 Million KRW, %)

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] The amount of dormant money in mutual finance sectors such as Shinhan Credit Cooperatives, Nonghyup, Suhyup, Forestry Cooperatives, and Saemaeul Geumgo has surpassed 6 trillion won. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has launched a joint campaign with the industry to help customers recover their deposits and savings, and has initiated institutional improvements to prevent financial accidents.

According to the FSS on the 5th, as of June, the total amount of deposits and savings in mutual finance sectors that have not been withdrawn for over a year reached 6.6021 trillion won. This is an increase of 173.1 billion won (2.6%) from 6.429 trillion won at the end of last year. Compared to 5.0913 trillion won at the end of 2020, it has increased by 1.5108 trillion won (29.7%). Notably, customers aged 65 and older who have not withdrawn more than 10 million won for a long period accounted for 45 billion won (2,077 people). Despite continuous efforts by the FSS and mutual finance sectors to recover unclaimed deposits and savings, the amount of dormant money in inactive accounts is on the rise.

The longer deposits remain unwithdrawn, the greater the risk of financial consumers suffering losses or damages. For consumers, after the maturity of the account, the interest rate decreases after a certain period, and if it exceeds six months, the ordinary deposit interest rate (0.1%) is applied, reducing earnings. They also cannot benefit from the increased interest rates on deposits and savings due to the rise in the base interest rate. Many elderly customers who do not check their accounts through internet banking are also at risk of financial accidents such as embezzlement.

The FSS plans to conduct a campaign jointly with mutual finance sectors. The campaign target has been significantly expanded from those whose deposits and savings matured over three years ago to those over one year. The campaign will notify customers holding long-term unwithdrawn deposits and savings about their status and refund methods via text messages and emails. Social networking services (SNS) will also be actively utilized. The FSS expects that if long-term unwithdrawn deposits and savings of over 1 million won (5.7 trillion won, 830,000 accounts) are re-deposited as one-year fixed deposits, an interest benefit of 188.2 billion won per year will be generated. The campaign period is about four weeks, from the 6th of this month to the 7th of next month.

Related systems have also been revised. Currently, mutual finance sectors notify depositors of maturity just before and after the maturity date, but there is no continuous regular notification. Therefore, the system has been changed to conduct customer notifications at least once a year for up to five years after maturity, instead of only immediately before and after maturity. Additionally, when terminating long-term unwithdrawn deposits, the approval criteria have been raised to strengthen internal controls such as identity verification. Each central association plans to focus on inspecting the status of long-term unwithdrawn deposits and savings with high financial accident risks during regular inspections of mutual finance cooperatives (every two years).

The FSS explained, “Through this campaign, financial consumers can recover their dormant money to use as living expenses or re-deposit it to enjoy higher interest benefits,” adding, “Mutual finance cooperatives are also expected to contribute to enhancing trust in the mutual finance sector by helping people recover their forgotten assets.”

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