Bankbooks becoming thing of past
By Lee Kyung-min The number of newly issued bankbooks has been decreasing sharply over the past few years amid the increase in paperless financial transactions, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Sunday. About 27 percent, of bank account holders had no bankbooks in 2018, a three-fold increase from 2015, when only 9 percent did, the data showed.Similarly, the number of bankbooks issued by the nation's top five commercial banks ― Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Woori, KEB Hana and NongHyup ― are steadily declining. They issued a combined 28.65 million bankbooks in 2018, a 1.4 million drop from over 30.05 million in 2017. This was a further drop from 32.57 million in 2016.This year's figure is expected to fall far faster given the January-March period is known to attract the highest number of new customers. The five banks issued only about 7.2 million bankbooks in the first quarter, about 10 percent fewer compared to 2018. Banks are offering various incentives to help customers join the eco-frie
Jun 2, 2019By Lee Kyung-min