Bank account books, which have been used in Korea since 1897, will stop being issued starting September, financial officials said Thursday.
The suspension is mainly due to financial systems being computerized and bank account books costing money to print and maintain.
The Financial Supervisory Service said that starting this September, financial incentives will be offered to customers who do not want bank books and will stop providing them from September 2017.
Incentives will include favorable interest rates, reduced fees or free gifts, FSS officials said.
The number of new accounts being opened with bank books has been decreasing. Data shows that from January to May 2015, 15.8 million accounts were opened with bank books, which is 80.8 percent of all accounts.
Last year, there was 38.2 million accounts with bank books, 82.6 percent of the total number of accounts opened.
