[Weekly Savings Banks] Savings Bank Employees Study Hard on the 4th Industrial Revolution

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The savings bank industry is accelerating its digital transformation. Since the beginning of the year, they have been conducting special lectures for employees on the 4th Industrial Revolution to nurture talent for the new era, and one savings bank proudly announced that its mobile financial platform has surpassed 1 million downloads.

◆ J Trust Group Employees Attend 4th Industrial Revolution Special Lecture

J Trust Group, which includes JT Capital, JT Chin-Ae Savings Bank, and JT Savings Bank as affiliates, announced that it held a New Year special lecture on the 4th Industrial Revolution for its employees.

The lecture, held at the Multi-Campus Education Center located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, was planned to enhance employee capabilities by discovering insights among managerial staff and fostering convergent and integrative thinking in response to the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution. About 180 people attended, including executives and department heads from the three domestic affiliates.

Professor Choi Jae-bong of Sungkyunkwan University, an expert on the 4th Industrial Revolution, gave a lecture titled “Phonosapiens: The New Human Born from Smartphones,” discussing the growth engines of the new era.

A J Trust Group representative said, “As the importance of strengthening employee capabilities grows amid rapidly changing environments, we will continue to provide education and support to our employees to enhance corporate competitiveness.”

◆ Welcome Savings Bank Surpasses 1 Million App Downloads

A financial application (app) in the savings bank industry has also reached 1 million downloads. Welcome Savings Bank is celebrating the milestone of 1 million downloads of its mobile banking platform, Welcome Digital Bank (Welbang), by holding a “Welbang Lotto” event.

This event, commemorating 1 million downloads of the Welbang app, offers customers who open a savings account through Welbang a chance to participate in an in-app lotto ticket event.

Participants can enter the event through the participation window after opening a savings account, with one entry opportunity provided per savings product subscribed during the event period. The event runs until March 29, with total prize money amounting to 20.2 million KRW.

The lotto is conducted similarly to an actual lottery. The first prize winner receives 10 million KRW, second prize 5 million KRW, third prize 3 million KRW, and fourth prize 1.5 million KRW. If winners overlap, the prize money for each rank is divided equally among the number of overlapping winners.

Participants choose 4 numbers from 30, excluding ‘12’ and ‘26’, which correspond to December 26, the date Welbang surpassed 1 million app installations last year.

The lotto drawing will be broadcast live on Welcome Savings Bank’s Facebook page on March 6.

Prize money will be paid only if the winners maintain their Welcome Savings Bank savings products. Each savings product requires a minimum deposit of 100,000 KRW. However, the “Welcome Spare Change Round-Up Savings” product is a flexible deposit and withdrawal product and is excluded from the 100,000 KRW minimum deposit requirement.

◆ ‘Good’ Savings Banks Considering the Environment

Pepper Savings Bank announced that starting this year, it is offering up to a 1% annual interest rate discount on mortgage loans for ‘green buildings’ certified as eco-friendly housing.

Green buildings refer to structures that have high energy efficiency and renewable energy usage rates, minimize greenhouse gas emissions, and provide a comfortable and healthy living environment.

For residential buildings, Pepper Savings Bank offers preferential interest rates ranging from a maximum of 1.0% to a minimum of 0.3%, depending on the certification level, for buildings that meet both the ‘Green Building Green Grade’ and ‘Building Energy Efficiency Grade’ standards. This is a preferential interest rate benefit for eco-friendly buildings.

Pepper Savings Bank hopes that by providing preferential interest rates for green buildings, the construction of green buildings that can receive various financial benefits will increase at the private sector level.

Pepper Savings Bank plans to expand interest rate discounts to secured loans for eco-friendly vehicles within the first quarter of this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.