Park Kwang-on "Top 5 Commercial Banks' Profits at Maximum, Non-Regular Workers Increase"

Park Kwang-on, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending and questioning at the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee's audit on the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission held on the 15th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Park Kwang-on, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 18th, "Although the five major commercial banks recorded their highest-ever operating profits last year, the quality of employment has deteriorated."

According to an analysis of data from the Financial Supervisory Service's Financial Statistics Information System, the operating profits of the five major commercial banks?KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, Hana, and NH Nonghyup?amounted to 14.4909 trillion KRW last year. Hana Bank reported its highest performance since 2016, when comparable statistics were first compiled following its merger with Korea Exchange Bank.

The profits increased from 6.6134 trillion KRW in 2016 to 10.8612 trillion KRW in 2017, 13.7584 trillion KRW in 2018, and 14.4909 trillion KRW in 2019. This represents a growth of 7.8775 trillion KRW over three years.

Interest income rose by 5 trillion KRW, or 23.2%, from 21.5606 trillion KRW in 2016 to 26.5572 trillion KRW in 2019.

However, as of the fourth quarter of last year, the number of regular employees at the five major commercial banks was 70,463, a 1.2% (840 employees) decrease compared to the same period the previous year, while the number of non-regular employees increased by 7.9% (515 employees) during the same period.

At Kookmin Bank, the number of regular employees in the fourth quarter of 2019 was 16,738, down 2.4% (420 employees) from the previous year, whereas non-regular employees increased by 28.0% (267 employees).

Hana Bank and Woori Bank also saw decreases in regular employees by 4.1% (522 employees) and 0.7% (104 employees), respectively, while non-regular employees increased by 20.3% (159 employees) and 7.4% (79 employees), respectively. Shinhan Bank experienced increases in both regular employees by 1.0% (132 employees) and non-regular employees by 13.3% (117 employees).

In the case of NH Nonghyup Bank, regular employees increased by 0.5% (74 employees), while non-regular employees decreased by 3.8% (107 employees).

Assemblyman Park pointed out, "Despite record-breaking profits, commercial banks are filling the positions left by departing regular employees with non-regular employees, leading to a deterioration in the quality of employment," and emphasized, "The financial sector must take public responsibility and strive to create quality jobs."

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