With the 5% deposit rate, which had disappeared for a while, making a comeback, many people are flocking to it.
Second-tier financial institutions such as Saemaeul Geumgo are competing for special deposit products. Reporter Deok-gi Yoo reports on this.
<Reporter> Mr.
Lee, an office worker in his 20s, even took a vacation to sign up for Saemaeul Geumgo’s special deposit account with a 5% interest rate.
[Mr. Lee/Office Worker: I was investing in stocks (as an investment method), but I was losing a lot of money, so I thought depositing was the best option. I was worried that it would close, so I took half a day off in the morning and quickly signed up.] The middle of last month
. Since then, special deposit products with interest rates in the 5% range have been launched one after another, mainly by local Saemaeul Geumgo and credit unions.
In particular, Saemaul Geumgo, which experienced a deposit outflow last month, launched a product that raised the interest rate to 5.8% for some local vaults to attract deposits, and it was sold out early one after another.
Then, in the banking sector, deposit products with the highest interest rate raised to 4% reappeared.
In the second half of last year, when deposit interest rates peaked, financial institutions began to compete to attract about 118 trillion won worth of special deposits ahead of their maturity. As a result, deposit interest rates, which hit bottom in April, have continued to rise.
This reflects the increase in market interest rates due to concerns about the prolonged tightening of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Second-tier financial institutions must have an interest rate difference of more than 1 percentage point from first-tier financial institutions to retain customers, so competition for high-interest rate special offers may become more heated.
As the deposit interest rate rises, the bank’s funding costs increase안전놀이터, so lending interest rates are bound to rise as well, which can be a burden in an economic slowdown.
[Professor Lee Jeong-hwan/Hanyang University Department of Economics and Finance: (Currently) There are concerns about an economic downturn and the risk of borrowers becoming insolvent increases. It is no longer possible to increase the (deposit) interest rate… .]
High interest rates are good for consumers, but excessive competition to receive high interest rates can lead to a deterioration in the soundness of financial institutions, so we must keep a close eye on them.