Dormant Bank Accounts

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Many bank accounts in Korea have been found dormant as their owners have forgotten about them. But soon bank users will be able to check all of their bank accounts in one place and close ones that they don't use anymore.

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Many people are unaware of how many bank accounts they have.

[Soundbite] Bank User : "All of my bank accounts? I don't know exactly."

Some 230 million personal accounts exist in domestic banks to date. Half of them haven't been used for more than a year, and one in every ten accounts has a zero balance. Their owners have either forgotten about them or didn't close them because of the complicated procedure. But starting in December anyone will be able to check and close their bank accounts with just one click of a mouse. The first step is to visit accountinfo.or.kr and go through personal authorization. After checking their bank accounts and balance, users can transfer the remaining money from certain accounts to their main accounts or donate the money before closing dormant accounts.

[Soundbite] Yang Hyung-keun(Financial Supervisory Commission) : "Dormant bank accounts result in all kinds of social costs. Our goal is to close inactive accounts."

The amount of money sitting in dormant bank accounts has surpassed 12 billion U.S. dollars. The new service is expected to help account holders put inactive funds into active circulation.