Customers to Use ATMs 24 Hours From Oct.
By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
Beginning October, banks will allow customers to use all types of cash machines 24 hours a day except for 10 minutes a day required for system checking.
The Korea Federation of Bank (KFB) said on Thursday it has agreed with the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute (KFTC), the operator of bank-to-bank payment systems, to reduce the time for system checking to 10 minutes from the current 1 hour.
Currently, customers can't withdraw or save money, using other banks' ATMs, for one hour from 11:30 p.m. During the one hour, the institute inspects its payment network and helps banks settle money in and out of their ATMs.
Beginning October, the time for system checking will be reduced to 10 minutes from 11:55 p.m., the KFB said.
``All bank customers will virtually be able to use ATMs 24 hours a day from October,'' the KFB said. ``This is a part of our efforts to operate safer and more convenient payment systems in Korea.''
However, banks and the KFB are discussing ways to cut the amount of funds customers can withdraw from ATMs.
They are also planning to cut the amount of money they can transfer via ATMs. Currently, a customer can withdraw 700,000 won to 1 million won at once, with the daily ceiling set at 7-10 million won. Money transfer was limited to 10 million won at one time, and daily ceiling is set at 50 million won.
Banks are viewed as trying to cut ceiling in order to reduce risks involving financial scams and frauds.
``We are considering cutting the ceiling, but we have yet to make a final decision,'' a bank official said. ``Still, as most banks agree in principle to cutting the ceiling, we are likely to reach an agreement soon.''