<Anchor> This is a
friendly economic time. Today (the 8th) I will be with reporter Han Ji-yeon. There is a story that the redemption rate of 50,000 won bills has dropped compared to before Corona.
<Reporter>
Yes. First, to give an example, I'm not sure if you remember the incident a few months ago. There was an incident where I bought a used kimchi refrigerator and a bundle of money was found in it.
<Anchor> The
amount is so large, so many people were interested. It turned out that she was a woman in her 60s living in Seoul, and I think I said that the refrigerator was in Jeju.
<Reporter> It
was exchanged for cash to be passed on to the children and kept in the refrigerator, but he just died without notifying it. The reason why I am bringing this up is because, at that time, the amount of money kept was about 110 million won, and it was all 50,000 won bills.
Based on the apple box, the 10,000 won bill costs 240 million won. A 50,000 won bill costs 5 times that, 1.2 billion won. Because the volume can be reduced like this, the 50,000 won bill is well used.
In the case of the aforementioned currency exchange rate, which is a 50,000 won note, from January to October of this year, it is only around 17%. If 10 copies are distributed, less than 2 copies are returned.
It is a third of what it was two years ago, that is, before Corona. Also, 50,000 won notes began to be issued in 2009, which is the lowest level ever since.
As you asked before, "Where did all the money go?" Although the possibility of money laundering and hiding continues to be raised, the Bank of Korea is understanding that it is because of the demand for reserve funds. It is money that is set aside as a reserve because uncertainty increases when a plague such as Corona strikes.
It's hard to invest anywhere prematurely, and having money in hand makes you feel at ease. In today's ultra-low interest rate era, it is not easy to deposit money in a bank because the interest is a penny.
<Anchor>
Is that so? Sales of personal safes are also on the rise.
<Reporter> The amount
of cash held by the private sector stood at 148 trillion won as of September. This is the highest level ever, and these money now have to be stored somewhere around high-value notes such as 50,000 won notes.
As in the previous case, some people store it in the refrigerator or hide it under the mattress of the bed, but the demand for personal safe has also increased significantly.
From January to October of this year, the amount of safe deposits increased by nearly 20% compared to the previous year, the highest ever. The safe maker's sales also increased by more than 100%.
Sales of home safes at major department stores this year also increased by 55% compared to a year earlier. These days, the MZ generation is increasingly accumulating wealth.
In particular, it is said that there are many cases of purchasing safes for coma, and the safe market also reflects this, and instead of heavy and dull achromatic safes in the past, there are more cases of making them as a furniture concept with a colorful design.
In addition, it is said that there is a safe equipped with the ability to notify the real-time theft monitoring status by applying Wi-Fi.
<Anchor>
By the way, a reporter said that, on the other hand, the exchange rate of coins has skyrocketed.
(Think carefully about this. When do you use coins?) Lately, I don't remember much because I haven't been using coins a lot, but looking back on my past memories, it seems like it was when I didn't have money or when I needed money.
<Reporter>
That's right.
When there is no money, or when the economy is not good, coins that have been sleeping in a piggy bank or drawer in the house come out of the world, and the amount of money exchanged also increases. This is a phenomenon that occurs whenever there is a recession.
However, the environment for using money has also changed.
I don't use cash well.
Most of them are using cards, or these days, it's all about using some kind of pay.
Also, due to the corona virus, non-face-to-face transactions have also increased.
So naturally the coins go into the bank.
When I looked at which coins were exchanged the most, it was also 100 won.
What this means is that when 100 coins of 100 won were issued, 214 returned, which is more than twice the number.
Coins recovered in this way are stored in a vault at the Bank of Korea for reissuance.