Korea to expand flexible-hour bank branches ahead of shorter banking hours

Korea's financial watchdog plans to expand the number of bank branches offering extended hours and weekend services, seeking to make in-person banking more accessible as branch networks shrink and lenders prepare to push back their opening times next year, officials said Sunday. At a meeting chaired by Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Gov. Lee Chan-jin on Friday, the financial watchdog said that it would work with the Financial Services Commission and banks to expand the days and hours these branches operate and the range of services they provide. The country's bank branch network has continued to shrink, falling to 5,466 locations at the end of September from 5,831 at the end of 2022, according to the FSS. Of these, only 991 offered services outside standard banking hours. Access to staffed branches with extended hours is particularly limited. About 40.3 percent of these locations are in the Seoul metropolitan area, while only 10.6 percent open on weekends. The need for more flexible banking services is expected to become more pressing from April next year, when banks are set to dela