This year, the flow of funds from individual investors was busier than ever before. At the beginning of the year, funds that had rushed into real estate due to a temporary lifting of land transaction permits quickly shifted to domestic and overseas stocks and alternative assets when regulations were tightened again. On top of this, global interest rate trends, geopolitical risks, and exchange rate volatility all combined to create a pronounced preference for so-called "safe-haven assets" such as gold, silver, and the US dollar. As overall asset prices surged amid abundant liquidity, the perception that "holding cash means losing money" became widespread.

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According to the financial sector on December 28, the amount of gold bars sold by the five major banks (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup) from the beginning of this year to December 24 totaled 677.974 billion won. This is the highest figure since related statistics began to be compiled in 2020, and it is more than four times last year's annual sales (165.442 billion won). Excluding NH Nonghyup, which does not provide sales weight records, the total weight of gold bars sold by the other four banks reached 3,745 kilograms, also a record high-2.7 times higher than a year ago.

Driven by a surge in silver prices, demand for silver bars also skyrocketed. The total amount of silver bars sold this year by the four major banks, excluding Hana Bank which does not handle silver bars, reached 30.68 billion won-the highest ever recorded by the banking sector. This is 38 times last year's figure (799 million won). A commercial bank official said, "While it is difficult to precisely distinguish the buyers of gold and silver bars, most should be considered individual investors," adding, "Since joining the bank, I have never seen ordinary individual investors buy so much gold and silver as they have this year."

Image generated by AI to aid understanding of the article. ChatGPT

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Gold banking (gold savings accounts), which allow people to save gold as if it were a deposit, also set new records this year. For example, Shinhan Bank's "Gold Richu" product currently has a total of 187,859 accounts with a combined balance of 1.2979 trillion won linked to the value of gold. Both the number of accounts and the balance are the highest since Shinhan Bank launched the product in 2003. Compared to the end of last year (549.3 billion won, 165,276 accounts), the balance has increased 2.4 times and the number of accounts has risen by 14%.

With the won-dollar exchange rate staying above 1,400 won throughout the year, the US dollar also attracted attention as an alternative investment. The balance of individual US dollar deposits at the five major banks currently stands at 12.73 billion dollars. This is an increase of 917 million dollars from the end of last year, marking the highest level in four years since the end of 2021 (14.653 billion dollars). On December 24, after the foreign exchange authorities verbally intervened and the won-dollar exchange rate plummeted by more than 30 won, one Hana Bank branch in the Gangnam area of Seoul even ran out of $100 bills.

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Experts view this year's flow of individual funds as a typical investment pattern that emerges in an environment of heightened uncertainty. As real estate regulations and stock market volatility increased, funds moved to relatively stable real assets and key currencies. Given these trends, there is a strong possibility that individual investors' preference for safe-haven assets will continue for the time being.