Bank Branches to Open 30 Minutes Later Starting Next April... State-Run Bank Relocation Not Included (Comprehensive)

The Korea Financial Industry Union and the Korea Financial Industry Employers’ Association have reportedly reached a dramatic agreement in their industry-level negotiations.

Yonhap News Agency

According to the financial sector and labor circles on September 28, the two sides tentatively agreed to terms at the industry’s central negotiations. This comes five months after talks began in April.

The two parties decided to shorten business hours at bank branches by 30 minutes starting from April next year. The daily opening time will be pushed back from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

This change takes into account that employees must arrive before 9:00 a.m. to prepare for a 9:00 a.m. opening. The closing time for branches will remain at 4:00 p.m.

The overall wage increase rate was set at 3.0%, with management agreeing to cover the costs to support new youth hires.

Additionally, the parties agreed to introduce a flexible autonomous commuting system to promote work-life balance and will implement a Friday customer cut-off system along with a compensatory leave plan.

The scope of parental leave will be expanded so that employees can take it until their child is in the sixth grade of elementary school, and the reduced working hours program for parents of lower-grade elementary students will be extended.

Meanwhile, the union’s call for the government to retract its policy to relocate the three major state-run banks - Korea Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Industrial Bank of Korea - to regional areas was not included in this agreement.

Opposition to the relocation of state-run banks was one of the main justifications for the general strike organized by the union on September 4.

The union plans to convene a meeting of representatives from each bank’s branch office on September 29 to share the details of the tentative agreement and collect opinions.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.