Secretary General Kwon Dae-young of the Financial Services Commission visited a local bank branch on July 15 to check on the operation of public heat shelter and have talks on the importance of financial sectors taking up social responsibility by offering public heat shelters at their branch offices. Currently, there are some 9,600 branches providing public heat shelters during their working hours (normally between 09:00 and 16:00). With more financial companies from the mutual finance sector and savings banks pledging to join this effort to boost their social responsibility, it is expected that there will be some 14,000 public heat shelters provided by financial companies across the country. The heat shelters will be made available until the end of August, but depending on locations, they may be open until the end of September. These branches will display signposts to improve consumer convenience and raise public awareness about the availability of heat shelters at their locations.