South Korea financial firms shutters 1,000 offline offices in one year

Banks closed 380 offline offices between March 2021 to March 2022, according to the FSS.

Over 1,000 branches and offline offices run by financial firms in South Korea closed in the past year, reports Yonhap, based on data from the local Financial Supervisory Service.

Local financial companies–which include banks and insurers–have a total of 15,924 offline offices as of end-March, the FSS said. This is 1,037 lower than the number reported in March 2021.

Insurers closed the most brick-and-mortar offices, with 698 fewer locations.

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Meanwhile, banks in the country closed 380 offline offices over the 12 month period.

Financial companies’ workforce also suffered, with 8,073 fewer employees than the past year. In total, financial firms in South Korea employ 378,056 people as of end-March.