This file photo shows ATMs of major South Korean banks. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Amid growing interest in the protection of depositors resulting from the collapse of the United States-based Silicon Valley Bank, the value of uninsured deposits is estimated at more than 100 trillion won (US$762 billion) in South Korea, data showed Wednesday.
According to the data that Rep. Kim Hee-gon of the ruling People Power Party received from the state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., the share of deposits that exceed the deposit cap of 50 million won rose from 61.8 percent (724.3 trillion won) in 2017 to 65.7 percent in June last year (1,152.7 trillion won).
Even for savings banks, the ratio rose from 10.7 percent (5.4 trillion won) to 16.4 percent (16.5 trillion won) during the same period.
Currently, the deposit cap that banks guarantee for savers is set at 50 million won.
For major advanced countries, the depositor protection limit is $250,000 in the U.S., 100,000 euros in the EU, 85,000 pounds in the UK and 10 million yen in Japan.
The depositor protection limit for South Korea, however, has remained unchanged although its per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) almost doubled from $15,736 in 2001 to $35,003 last year.
On Wednesday, South Korean financial authorities started establishing a contingency plan using the protection of all deposits as a card to respond to any emergency situations such as massive bank runs.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
