Skorean banks shift from ATMs to mobile banking

SEOUL: Local banks have been closing down their automated teller machines (ATMs), pulling out of the high-cost service to transfer resources to more promising mobile banking, industry watchers said Thursday.

The top seven commercial banks led by market No. 1 Shinhan Bank and Kookmin Bank ran a combined 32,256 ATMs nationwide as of September last year, down 3.6 percent from 33,459 at the end of 2013, according to data from the industry. The other five banks are Woori Bank, Hana Bank, Foreign Exchange Bank, Citibank Korea Inc. and Standard Chartered Bank Korea.