Banks open alternative portable branches

In the wake of the decline of visitors and the net interest margin, as well as the high building rents, some commercial banks have embarked on projects to reduce the number of their brick-and-mortar branches nationwide. They decided ― as a substitute ― to place a focus on portable branches as a means to approach customers in residential districts at a much lower cost.

Hana Bank last week launched its third portable branch, incorporating a portable banking system inside an RV.

“This new banking branch car also offers space, sufficient for two customers to fit at the same time,” said a bank spokesperson.

“It is most efficient when visiting customers in outdoor spaces or during foul weather.”

The car is to operate in the Chungcheong region, where it will visit traditional markets, colleges and local festivals, focusing on reaching out to financially alienated brackets, according to Hana.

Shinhan Bank, too, is currently operating portable branches, with 32 branches already in action and some 10 more coming out this year.

The bank started with the portable branch set, which weighs 7-8 kilograms each, but is gradually moving onto the tablet branch system.

It introduced banking function tablet PCs this February, with plans to expand the system to all of its branches by July this year.

The tablet banking system offers customers the access to financial consulting and e-documents. Opening personal accounts is not yet available.

Other major players, such as KB Kookmin Bank, Woori Bank, Korea Exchange Bank and NH NongHyup Bank, are also running a tablet banking system

The pioneer was Industrial Bank of Korea, which adopted the portable branch mechanism in 2011. But the number of units remained limited, largely due to its high price of 10 million won ($9,000) or more per unit.

“For years, we kept these machines in the headquarters and our salespeople would borrow them whenever they had plans to visit customers for banking operations,” said a bank official.

“Despite the inconvenience, the portable branch was a crucial function that we kept for customers who could not find the time to visit our bank windows within office hours.”

IBK performed banking operations over 50 times on Ulleungdo Island in that first year by taking the portable IBK system to the far-off East Sea island, according to officials.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)