There are concerns that if a lunchtime shutdown becomes a reality, not only the financially vulnerable groups such as the elderly, but also office workers will experience inconvenience in using the bank. As the banking sector goes against the policy of the financial authorities, the nervous war between the two sides is also expected to be inevitable.
According to the banknote on the 7th, the NH Nonghyup Branch under the Financial Union conducts a survey on demand for simultaneous use during lunch at the branches of the Nonghyup Bank from the 2nd to the 9th.
The union side is planning to check the average daily number of customers, the average number of customers during the lunch break, and the current status of nearby competing banks at branch offices that wish to use it at the same time during lunch. After that, through on-site inspection, a branch office that will actually conduct the pilot project is selected. When the pilot project is actually introduced, the branch office will set a specific time slot as lunch time and stop working in a batch.
When the Nonghyup Bank introduces the simultaneous use of lunchtime, it is the second case in the banking sector after Daegu Bank. Daegu Bank has been operating the system since last January. The seven branches selected for the pilot operation are suspended from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm.
The likelihood of this trend spreading to all banknotes is also higher than ever. This is because the financial labor and management, who have not been able to narrow down their positions for several years, have begun discussions in earnest this year.
The financial union and the financial industry employers’ council formed the’Lunch Time Simultaneous Survey Task Force (TF)’ in February, and from this month started to investigate the actual conditions of front-line branches. The two sides plan to intensively discuss the agenda for simultaneous use of lunch breaks at the industry-level negotiations scheduled for the second half of the year based on the results of the investigation after completing the investigation by the end of next month.
Some are concerned that this movement of banknotes may inflict inconvenience to consumers. This is because from a consumer’s point of view, banking hours are reduced by an hour.
Most commercial bank branches are open from 9 am to 4 pm on weekdays, but if the simultaneous use of lunch breaks is introduced, the operating hours will be only 6 hours a day. Not only the elderly, who use internet banking with a relatively small proportion, but also the office workers who visit the bank during lunch break can suffer.
Considering that the banking sector is accelerating the reduction of branches, the use of banks will inevitably become more difficult in the future. According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the number of commercial bank stores as of the end of last year was 3546, a decrease of 238 compared to the previous year. By year, the decline has been the largest since 2017 (283 items).
In response, the financial authorities are not hiding their uncomfortable feelings. Last year, Director of Financial Supervisory Service Yoon Seok-heon also warned the banking sector that “a more responsible attitude is important to the extent that it does not cause inconvenience to customers’ use of financial services.” This is why the banking sector reinforced the joint procedure for closing bank stores last month.
Regardless of this, banknotes continue to close their stores. Shinhan Bank and KB Kookmin Bank closed 6 and 20 branches respectively this year. Commercial bank branches are expected to close in June. Hana Bank will close a total of 16 branches and branch offices in June. Woori Bank, Nonghyup Bank, and SC First Bank will also close 3, 1 and 2 branches respectively.
An official from the financial sector said, “In a situation where the strengthened closing procedure is insufficient, the financial authorities can further strengthen related regulations if the business hours are substantially reduced due to a lunch break.”
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