The Korea Inclusive Finance Agency announced on July 16 that it had returned dormant deposits totaling 163.5 billion won to the original rights holders during the first half of this year.
According to the agency, in accordance with the Act on the Support of Financial Life for the Underprivileged, it receives and manages dormant deposits, insurance payouts, and cashier's checks whose statutes of limitations have expired from financial institutions. The agency operates the "Dormant Deposit Finder" service, allowing original rights holders to conveniently search for and reclaim these assets.
The amount paid out in the first half of this year was 163.5 billion won, representing a 20% increase compared to the same period last year. The total number of payments was 333,000, with an average payment of 490,000 won per case. It was found that 76% of dormant deposits and insurance payouts were reclaimed through non-face-to-face channels such as Seomin Geumyoong Itta, Government24, and Account Info.
Starting this year, the agency introduced an official notification text message system that uses the most recent mobile phone numbers provided by telecommunications companies. This enabled the agency to notify original rights holders about dormant deposit services, even in cases where notification was previously difficult due to returned mail or mismatched phone numbers. Beginning in the third quarter, in line with the "MyData 2.0 Initiative," the agency plans to connect its services so that dormant deposits can be checked at a glance when viewing all financial assets in the MyData app, and so that immediate payout or donation is also possible.
President Lee Jaeyeon stated, "We are making various efforts to ensure that original rights holders do not miss out on reclaiming their dormant deposits simply because they are unaware of their existence."
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