52 Minors Hold Over 1 Billion Won in Bank Deposits... 2 Trillion Won Held by Children Aged 0–5

9.7 Trillion Won Held in Savings and Time Deposits at 19 Banks
2,595 Minors Have Balances Exceeding 100 Million Won

It has been found that more than 50 minors in South Korea hold over 1 billion won in savings or time deposits at domestic banks. The total balance of savings and time deposit accounts opened under the names of minor customers is approaching 10 trillion won, with the balance held by infants and toddlers aged 0 to 5 exceeding 2 trillion won.

Yonhap News Agency

According to data submitted by the Korea Federation of Banks to Assemblyman Park Sunghoon of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee on October 5, as of the end of July this year, the total balance of savings and time deposit accounts held by customers aged 18 and under at 19 domestic deposit banks reached 9.7413 trillion won. This represents an increase of 1.4548 trillion won (17.6%) from the end of 2022 (8.2865 trillion won).

The number of accounts held under minors’ names also rose from 6,615,941 at the end of 2022 to 8,995,055 by July, an increase of 2,379,114 accounts (36.0%). This figure includes both demand deposit accounts and fixed deposit/savings accounts.

When looking at individual balances—which aggregate all savings and time deposits that each minor customer holds across multiple accounts—it is evident that a notable number of minors possess significant financial assets.

As of the end of July, there were 2,419 minors with a combined bank balance between 100 million won and less than 500 million won, 124 minors holding between 500 million won and less than 1 billion won, and 52 minors with more than 1 billion won in total balances. The number of those holding more than 1 billion won increased by 10 to 52 over a seven-month period, up from 42 at the end of the previous year.

By bank, Hana Bank had the largest number of minors holding over 100 million won with 566, followed by KB Kookmin Bank with 540, Shinhan Bank with 437, Woori Bank with 422, and NH Nonghyup Bank with 172.

For those holding more than 1 billion won, Hana Bank had 14, and Shinhan Bank had 12. However, since these figures are summed up by bank, there may be cases where minors who have deposits in multiple banks are counted more than once.

The majority of minors have less than 1 million won in their bank accounts. Of the 7,227,938 minors holding savings or time deposit accounts, 5,602,273 (77.5%) had balances below 1 million won.

By age group, children aged 6 to 12 held the largest amount of savings and deposits at 3.5864 trillion won. Those aged 16 to 18 held 2.1463 trillion won, those aged 0 to 5 years old had 2.1399 trillion won, and those aged 13 to 15 held 1.8688 trillion won. There were 1,123,996 accounts registered under the names of children aged 0 to 5 alone.

The trend of minors holding large financial assets was also evident in the stock market.

According to data Assemblyman Park received from the Korea Securities Depository, at the end of last year there were 5,400 minors who held more than 100 million won in domestic listed stocks. The total value of domestic listed stocks owned by minors amounted to 7.3113 trillion won.

Assemblyman Park commented, "It is not an issue as long as financial asset formation or gifting is carried out legitimately. However, it is necessary to thoroughly review whether there are any blind spots in reporting and tracing the source of funds when large sums of financial assets are transferred to minors."

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