<Anchor>

Reporter Kwon Ae-ri, friendly economy, is here on Wednesday. Reporter Kwon, today (12th) is a story about things that are gradually decreasing as the world changes. When I looked into whether or not to install ATMs, the gap between regions was quite large.

<Reporter>

Yes. The Bank of Korea put it together, and the regional gap was wider than what would be commonly thought of. First of all, half of the ATMs were concentrated in the metropolitan area.

In terms of per unit area 1㎢, the phenomenon of bias is more pronounced. There are 36 cars in Seoul. When you need an ATM, you can find it as quickly as possible.

However, in Gangwon, Gyeongbuk, and Jeonnam, there was only 0.3 to 0.4 units per area. It is more than 100 times different.

The population of Seoul is close to 10 million, so there is a lot more demand for ATMs. However, the population of Gyeongbuk is also close to 2.7 million.

Gangwon and Jeonnam provinces range from 1.5 to 2 million, but the difference in the number of ATMs exceeding 100 times is a lot unbalanced.

Moreover, considering that the age group, which has a lot of people who say "I'm more comfortable spending cash," is usually older, this disparity has a bigger problem.

Jeonnam, Gyeongbuk, and Gangwon are the first, second, and fourth places in Korea with the highest proportion of the elderly population.

In fact, Korea is still one of the countries with the largest number of ATMs per 100,000 people in the world.

Overall, it's difficult to get cash when you need it. Less access to cash. It is by no means a country that can talk like this yet.

If you go into more detail and consider the regional gaps, it is true that there are points to be made in terms of distribution and management. The Bank of Korea is also pointing out that.

<Anchor> While the

regional gap is so large, the number of ATM machines itself continues to decrease, right?

<Reporter>

Yes. There are currently 55,000 ATM machines left in the country. Compared to 2013, which was the most common, it disappeared in 22 out of 100.

On the contrary, the CD machines that payment agencies install at convenience stores are increasing, but they only increase to about two-thirds of the reduced bank ATM machines, and above all, they pay a fee of 1,000 won.

It is true that even if you find it nearby when you need cash suddenly, you are hesitant to draw money. It is also concentrated in the metropolitan area.

It is a natural phenomenon that ATMs are shrinking. Korea is one of the fastest way to digitalize payment methods in the world.

Having an ATM is expensive, and printing paper money is expensive, so keeping reducing it is an effective direction.

However, it is still important to balance the country with adequate access to cash.

Sweden, one of the world's most active policies towards a cashless society, has recently fine-tuned its policy.

After 10 years or so while encouraging electronic payments and actively reducing cash flow, people from the financially vulnerable group, the disabled, the low-income group, and people living in remote areas have become alienated from their daily transactions.

So Sweden has also changed its direction slightly when digitizing payment methods remains the same, but with minimal cash access.

<Anchor>

So, after reviewing all these matters, did our financial authorities decide to manage these ATM machines in the future?

<Reporter>

Yes. Together with banks, we decided to first check the ATM distribution network across the country. It finds out where and how many ATMs, and which machines do not pay a fee, and provides them in an app.

And services that are just starting, such as a cash withdrawal service that allows you to pay 100,000 won and receive 90,000 won in cash while buying 10,000 won worth of 4 cans of beer at a convenience store. We decided to further activate these services as a substitute for ATM.

These are services that can be used conveniently and usefully, and as we develop these, we will have to work together to ensure that the financially underprivileged who desperately need cash access.

For example, if you only create an app that contains ATM distribution data, it may be difficult to write the most necessary financially vulnerable groups.

Just like installing an electric sign that shows the waiting time for the bus at the bus stop, it's like a community center, but it's like a local ATM information map. .

These services, which are created with the vulnerable groups in mind, are particularly important to ensure that alienation does not accelerate further.