Dormant bank accounts top 340 million as unclaimed assets reach W14.19tr

The number of dormant and long-inactive financial accounts in South Korea has surpassed 340 million, prompting calls for stronger measures to manage neglected accounts and return unclaimed assets to their owners.

Data submitted to the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee by the Financial Supervisory Service showed that long-inactive, unclaimed and dormant financial accounts totaled about 341.91 million at the end of last year. That was up about 77.51 million, or 29.3%, from about 264.4 million at end-2021, according to People Power Party lawmaker Park Sung-hoon, who requested the data.

Long-inactive accounts are generally defined as those with no transactions for three or more years. Dormant financial asset accounts include savings and deposit accounts, insurance claim accounts whose statute of limitations has expired, and dormant securities accounts subject to separate criteria. Despite ongoing efforts by financial authorities and institutions to help customers recover hidden assets, the number of neglected accounts continues to grow.

Long-inactive and unclaimed accounts reached about 195.03 million at the end of last year, a 26.0% increase over four years. Savings and time deposits accounted for the largest share at about 124.83 million accounts, followed by demand deposits at about 69.27 million and insurance claims at 940,000.

Particularly notable was the surge in long-inactive demand deposit accounts, which rose from about 42.81 million at end-2021 to about 69.27 million — a 61.8% increase over four years. That category accounted for roughly two-thirds of the total growth in long-inactive and unclaimed accounts over the same period.

The total balance held in long-inactive and unclaimed financial accounts stood at 14.19 trillion won ($10.6 billion). Savings and time deposits accounted for 7.43 trillion won, insurance claims for 5.19 trillion won and demand deposits for 1.56 trillion won. The overall balance was down from 15.08 trillion won at end-2021, though the savings and time deposit balance rose by 849.3 billion won over the same period.

By sector, banks held the largest share of long-inactive savings and time deposit balances at 5.69 trillion won. Mutual finance cooperatives held 1.67 trillion won and savings banks 78.4 billion won.

The number of dormant financial asset accounts also rose, climbing from about 109.55 million at end-2021 to about 146.88 million last year. Dormant securities accounts drove the increase, growing by about 36.81 million — from about 73.11 million to about 109.92 million over the period. At the end of last year, dormant securities accounts made up roughly 75 percent of all dormant financial asset accounts.

Financial institutions refunded 548.8 billion won in dormant assets last year, covering about 8.3 million accounts, excluding amounts transferred to the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency. Despite those refunds, the number of dormant financial asset accounts still grew by about 5.12 million from the previous year.

Under current law, deposits, insurance proceeds and cashier's checks whose statutes of limitations have expired are transferred to the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency, where they are managed as a funding source to support the financial independence of low-income and low-credit individuals. However, customers can still reclaim their money even after the statute of limitations has passed. Dormant deposits of 10 million won or less can be checked and retrieved around the clock on weekdays through the agency's platform or a bank's mobile app, without visiting a branch.

Meanwhile, financial authorities recently announced they will publicly disclose each financial institution's dormant asset refund performance across all sectors — including banks, securities firms, insurers, savings banks and mutual finance cooperatives. The move is intended to encourage financial companies to proactively manage assets before they become dormant.