South Korea’s 79 savings banks served 10.17 million customers in the first half of the year, up from 8.08 million in the first half of 2022, even as tighter lending rules, weak loan demand and real-estate project-financing losses reduced balances. Average deposits per customer fell 30% to 15.5 million Korean won and average loans declined 36% to 25.89 million won, while aggregate deposits and loans fell by more than 10 trillion won over four years. Retail deposits are also losing share: at the end of June, they represented 66.67% of SBI Savings Bank’s deposits, or 6.84 trillion won ($4.9 billion), down 1.06 percentage points year on year and 1.12 trillion won in value, while corporate and institutional funds rose to 7.43% from 4.92%. OK Savings Bank’s retail-deposit share fell to 66.42%, and shares also declined at Korea Investment, Acuon, Daol, Shinhan, DB and Hana Savings Bank, although Welcome and Chinae recorded increases under differing comparisons. The sector’s average 12-month deposit rate was 3.73% in mid-September, down from 3.89% on July 1 and 3.81% at the end of July in separate measurements; products paying at least 4% fell from 137 to 13. The industry posted losses of 555.9 billion won in 2023 and 423.2 billion won in 2024 after real-estate PF defaults, then recorded a 417.3 billion won profit after resolving non-performing loans. Mid-interest livelihood stabilization loans reached 251.6 billion won by the end of August, but expansion remains constrained by a 6.26% delinquency rate at the end of June.