'Two Banks Under One Roof' Increasing Joint Branches

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Recently, to minimize the inconvenience faced by financially marginalized groups such as the elderly due to the reduction of branches in commercial banks, banks have joined forces to open joint branches.

According to the financial sector on the 10th, KB Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank began a pilot operation of joint branches in Yeongju, Gyeongbuk, and Goyup, Yangju, Gyeonggi Province from the 5th.

The two banks have been specifically reviewing and promoting the selection of target areas and operational plans between banks since the beginning of the year to maintain face-to-face accessibility for customers in areas with insufficient commercial bank branches and to enhance financial convenience for vulnerable financial groups.

Yeongju, Gyeongbuk, and Goyup, Yangju, selected as pilot operation areas, are regions where Shinhan Bank and KB Kookmin Bank each operated branches within 100 meters of each other. They were selected to minimize inconvenience to existing customers by considering continuity for customers, employees, and channel operations.

The Shinhan-KB Kookmin joint branches operate in the form of a sub-branch: the Shinhan Yeongju branch relocated to the KB Yeongju branch, and the KB Yangju Goyup branch relocated to the Shinhan Goyup branch. They share customer waiting areas while operating each bank’s counters separately, allowing both banks’ services to be handled. Reflecting the preference of elderly and other financially marginalized groups for face-to-face channel consultations, the joint branches provide all banking services as in existing branches, including ▲deposit and loan services ▲foreign exchange ▲electronic finance ▲ancillary agency services.

Earlier, Hana Bank and Woori Bank opened the first joint branch in the banking sector in Shinbong-dong, Suji-gu, Yongin City, Gyeonggi Province in April.

Shinbong-dong, Yongin, is an area where Hana Bank’s Suji Shinbong branch and Woori Bank’s Shinbong branch both closed their operations side by side in 2021. The two banks judged that this area had optimal conditions for operating a joint branch and selected it accordingly.

The two banks each use half of the approximately 50-pyeong (about 165 square meters) business space inside the Woori Bank Shinbong branch, which closed last year, handling counter services most frequently used by elderly customers such as ▲deposits and withdrawals ▲various notifications ▲electronic finance ▲utility bill payments. However, since the branch is operated mainly for digitally marginalized groups such as the elderly, it focuses on simple deposit and withdrawal and notification services.

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