Dormant financial accounts in South Korea surge to over 340 million

SEOUL, October 20 (AJP) - More than 340 million financial accounts in South Korea had been left inactive as of the end of last year.

According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) to lawmaker Park Sung-hoon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) on Tuesday, the number of bank accounts and other financial accounts that had not been accessed for extended periods rose from 264.40 million at the end of 2021 to 341.91 million at the end of last year.

Despite efforts by financial regulators and institutions to return unclaimed assets to customers, the number of long-inactive and dormant accounts rose 29.3 percent over the period.

The total value of such assets left untouched or unclaimed for long periods stood at 14.19 trillion won (US$9.9 billion) at the end of last year, down from 15.08 trillion won at the end of 2021.

Deposit and savings accounts made up the largest portion of the total at 7.43 trillion won, followed by unclaimed insurance payouts at 5.19 trillion won and customer deposits at 1.56 trillion won.

Banks held the largest amount at 5.69 trillion won, followed by credit unions and other mutual finance institutions with 1.67 trillion won and savings banks with 78.4 billion won.

Long-inactive accounts generally refer to those with no transactions for at least three years. Dormant financial assets include deposits and insurance payouts whose statutory claim periods have passed.

"Financial authorities should investigate why so many financial accounts remain dormant for long periods and keep piling up, and come up with measures to manage them," Park said.