"Only One Day Deposit with Interest Rates in the 2% Range?"... Parking Accounts Heat Up Too

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Internet-only banks have joined the interest rate hike competition for 'Parking Accounts,' which are free withdrawal and deposit products. When Toss Bank launched a demand deposit account with an annual interest rate of 2% last year, it was considered groundbreaking, but now 2% range parking accounts seem to be becoming common.

According to the financial sector on the 15th, the three internet-only banks (Kakao, K Bank, Toss Bank) offer parking accounts with interest rates ranging from 2% to 2.3%.

K Bank raised the interest rate of its parking account 'Plus Box,' which allows money to be deposited and withdrawn at any time, to 2.3% on the 14th, earning the title of the highest among internet-only banks. Even if deposited for just one day, an annual interest rate of 2.3% applies, and interest accumulated is paid on the fourth Saturday of every month. The maximum limit is 300 million KRW. K Bank has raised the parking account interest rate by 1 percentage point in two months, including a 0.8 percentage point increase in July and an additional 0.2 percentage point increase this time.

Kakao Bank also made a bold move by raising the base interest rate of its parking account 'Safe Box' from 2% to 2.2% on the 8th, an increase of 0.2 percentage points. Safe Box is a product that allows users to separately manage surplus funds as if in a safe within the account. The maximum storage limit for one Safe Box is 100 million KRW.

Toss Bank, which opened the era of 2% range parking accounts, is somewhat in a difficult position as it currently offers the lowest interest rate among the three banks. Since its launch in October last year, it has provided a demand deposit account with a 2% annual interest rate. A Toss Bank official said regarding plans for interest rate hikes, "We proactively introduced a 2% interest rate when the base rate was low last year," and added, "We are reviewing it while monitoring market conditions."

The competition among internet-only banks for parking accounts is also interpreted as a significant lock-in effect that keeps users tied to their services. In K Bank's case, the number of subscribers increased tenfold daily in early July after the interest rate hike. By the end of August, compared to before the rate hike on July 14, the number of Plus Box subscribers increased by more than 15%, and the total deposit amount more than doubled. Kakao Bank also saw its deposit balance increase by over 500 billion KRW after the interest rate hike.

Meanwhile, savings banks have already started offering parking account products with interest rates in the 3% range. OK Savings Bank launched the 'OK Second Account,' a deposit and withdrawal account offering up to 3.3% annual interest. However, for amounts exceeding 10 million KRW, the maximum interest rate applied is 1% per annum. Earlier, Pepper Savings Bank also introduced the 'Peppers Parking Account' with a maximum annual interest rate of 3.2%. Among commercial banks, KDB Industrial Bank's 'KDB Hi Non-face-to-face Deposit and Withdrawal Account' and SC First Bank's 'First EZ Account' offer maximum annual interest rates of 2.25% and 2.5%, respectively.

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