A small change at stores could end wallet jam and coin box

From left to right are Emart24 CEO Kim Song-yong, Bank of Korea Deputy Governor Yoon Myun-shik, Ministop Korea President Shim Kwan-sub and Hyundai Department Store Executive Vice President Jung Jee-young at the central bank’s headquarters in central Seoul on Tuesday. [EMART24]

If coins are getting you down, the central bank has a solution.

Emart24, Ministop Korea and Hyundai Department Store on Wednesday announced they signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bank of Korea to provide a service that directly transfers change from cash transactions below 10,000 won ($8.9) directly to a customer’s bank account.

It will free them from the need to keep change at stores and raise customer convenience, retailers claims.

Customers will just have to present a debit card and get the change transferred to the connected account on the spot.

The three retailers are separately developing systems to support the service, since they use different payment systems. Customers can utilize the service at all banks except Citibank.

Another way to receive the cashless change is through a mobile app, which the Bank of Korea will develop. The mobile app will be linked to the customer’s bank account. By showing a barcode on the mobile app, customers can receive the change directly to their bank account. The service is scheduled for the second half.

“The number of people paying with cash is decreasing,” said Kim Dae-jin, a spokesperson for Emart24. “The service will help the store owner spend time more efficiently by not having to prepare coins.”

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]