South Korean bank customers will have to adjust their morning schedules next year as major bank branches are set to open 30 minutes later, moving from the current 9 a.m. opening time to 9:30 a.m. from April 2027.
The closing time will remain unchanged at 4 p.m., reducing standard in-person banking hours from seven hours to six and a half. The change is part of a tentative labor-management agreement reached after roughly five months of negotiations.
The agreement was reached between the Korean Financial Industry Union and the Korea Financial Industry Employers Association. Along with the shorter customer-service window, the deal includes a 3 percent overall wage increase and new flexible-work arrangements for bank employees.
Under the proposed flexible schedule, employees will be able to delay their start time by up to one hour per week, with a maximum of 30 minutes on a single day.
The agreement also includes a Friday customer cutoff system known as “last call,” as well as compensatory leave for eligible employees. Banks are also expected to revise aspects of their performance-evaluation and mystery-shopping systems, including protections against disciplinary action based solely on mystery-shopping results.
Parental-leave provisions are also set to change. Eligibility would be extended through the end of the school year in which a child reaches sixth grade, while reduced-working-hour arrangements for employees with younger elementary-school children would also be expanded.
The shift comes as banking habits continue to change, with more customers using digital banking services rather than visiting physical branches. The labor-management agreement says the later opening will provide employees with more preparation time before branches begin serving customers.
However, the change could affect customers who currently visit branches before work. Korean media reports have noted that people who start work at around 10 a.m. may have less time to complete in-person banking in the morning once the new schedule takes effect.
The tentative agreement also does not resolve the separate dispute over plans to relocate some state-run banks outside Seoul. Institutions including Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea and Export-Import Bank of Korea have been among those considered under the government’s regional-development plans.
For now, the biggest practical change for ordinary customers is straightforward: the traditional 9 a.m. bank opening is set to move to 9:30 a.m. in April 2027, while the 4 p.m. closing time stays the same.
With digital banking already reshaping how Koreans use financial services, the 30-minute shift could mark another significant change in the role of physical bank branches — but how customers and banks adapt remains to be seen.
WWC ONE MEDIA G,A
