A client uses an ATM at a bank in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Scenes of people remitting money at bank windows are becoming a relic of the past in South Korea.
Excluding mobile banking, the classic types of non-face-to-face transactions such as Internet banking, telebanking and automated teller machine (ATM), are also losing popularity across most age groups.
Only elderly people older than 60 years age still showed a preference towards such classic types of non-face-to-face transactions.
According to data revealed by the Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday, the share of face-to-face transactions made with bank tellers among banks’ total remittance transactions stood at 0.75 percent or 14 million cases in the first half of this year.
During the same period, the share of non-face-to-face transactions shot up to 99.24 percent. In other words, most bank remittance transactions have shifted to non-face-to-face ones.
Among non-face-to-face transactions, the use of mobile banking showed an upward trend, while the classic types of transactions such as Internet banking, telebanking and ATM showed a declining popularity.
However, among all age groups, only those aged over 60 showed an upward trend in the use of the classic types of non-face-to-face transactions.
For those over 60, the use of Internet banking rose to 63 million cases in 2019 from 59 million cases in 2016, while telebanking rose to 53 million cases from 51 million cases during the same period.
In particular, the use of ATM transactions shot up to 70 million cases in 2019 from 56 million cases in 2016.
Given that the number of ATMs declined to 35,000 units in July 2020 from 43,000 units in 2016, the data can be interpreted as an indication that elderly people still have a preference for classic types of non-face-to-face transactions.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
