Banks to open 30 minutes later next year after umbrella union, management strike deal

Banks in Korea will open at 9:30 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. beginning April next year under a labor-management agreement reached Monday, financial sources said.

Following talks that began in April, an umbrella labor union representing financial industry workers and a management organization tentatively agreed to shorten operating hours by 30 minutes, according to the sources.

Closing hours will remain unchanged at 4 p.m.

As part of the agreement, both sides also agreed on a wage hike of 3 percent and introducing flexible working hours for employees.

The agreement, however, did not include measures addressing the labor union's request seeking to withdraw government plans to relocate state-run banks to provincial areas.

Yonhap