[Financial Digital New Normal] Son Tae-seung "Digital Innovation Starts with Internal Communication"

④Woori Financial Group

Leading with Blue Team and Red Team for Communication and Innovation
Accelerating Digitalization through Woori One Banking Advancement
Foundation for Competitive Edge through Partnership with KT

Son Tae-seung, Chairman of Woori Financial Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyojin] "The certification process is still complicated. It needs to be further simplified to improve accessibility." "I hope there will be more 'services tailored for me' from the customer's perspective. We need to move toward hyper-personalization through big data." "There is a need to continuously develop a system that is faithful to the basics, such as preventing financial fraud."

On July 29, at the Woori Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, members of the 'Blue Team' poured out various opinions toward Sohn Tae-seung, Chairman of Woori Financial Group, during the 'Digital Innovation Forum with the Blue Team.' The Blue Team is a young organization ambitiously launched by Chairman Sohn to promote digital transformation (DT) across all group companies. It consists of about 20 mid-level digital-related employees from group companies. The goal is free discussion and expression of opinions in a 'bottom-up' manner to solidify the substance of innovation.

The forum, which was scheduled for two hours, extended to nearly three hours. During the session, Chairman Sohn instructed the executives present to actively reflect the Blue Team's proposals in innovation tasks. He also urged, "Since digital is ultimately centered on people, let's create digital innovation that provides customers with more convenient services and differentiated future value, and leap forward as the number one digital financial group."

As the chairman of the group's 'Digital Innovation Committee' leading DT, Sohn has adopted the slogan "Digital First, Change Everything." What he emphasizes is strengthening internal two-way communication, like the 'great debate' with the Blue Team. The principle is that to survive in a digital world without constraints of time, space, or sacred zones, the communication walls that exist knowingly or unknowingly within the group must be broken down first.

Another new organization Sohn launched last month is the 'Red Team.' This team is composed of practical digital and IT personnel from major group companies, with the special purpose of 'raising opposing opinions.' The value Sohn projects onto this organization is that "correct decisions are generated from the clash of opposing opinions."

He told the Red Team, "What we need is not consensus but disagreement," and instructed, "If a proposal is unanimously approved, take sufficient time to review it again." He wants them to consider removing errors from opposing perspectives and supporting optimal decision-making in response to the one-way organizational logic.

The Red Team expresses opinions on major agenda items of the weekly Digital Innovation Committee subcommittee and plays a role in conveying awareness of issues through free voices rather than refined reports.

Woori Financial is focusing on digitalizing the very nature of its organization. In the second half of the year, it established the DT Promotion Team dedicated to strengthening DT at Woori Bank, and within the DT Promotion Team, it created an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Business Division to research the application of AI-based new technologies to banking business. To respond agilely to the rapidly changing financial environment, it also introduced the ACT (Active Core Team) system, a special task force to discover and promote new business opportunities.

Digital innovation in the banking sector is usually concentrated in mobile banking systems, especially mobile banking applications (apps). Since last August, Woori Bank renewed its existing mobile banking 'One Touch' to 'Woori WON Banking,' meaning 'Woori Bank (W) Opens a New Era (ON) in Mobile Finance,' and has focused on developing mobile-specialized products such as One Account, One Savings, One Deposit, and One Credit Loan.

Furthermore, the bank is promoting key projects for the second half of the year, including ▲ strengthening channel competitiveness through advanced WON Banking functions ▲ integrated face-to-face and non-face-to-face marketing by providing channel preferences and customized product information based on big data ▲ launching continuously visiting financial products and services and strengthening non-face-to-face marketing through strategic partnerships with platform companies.

Woori Bank is also putting effort into globalizing Woori WON Banking. An example is the global version 'Woori WON Banking Vietnam,' launched in March this year. It is based on Woori Financial's global network, one of the largest in Korea, spanning 26 countries with 478 branches as of September this year.

A Woori Bank official said, "With the increase in smartphone penetration in Southeast Asia and the implementation of digital finance activation policies by local financial authorities, digital finance is expected to grow rapidly," adding, "Starting with Vietnam, we will expand the 'Global Woori WON Banking' service to countries where Woori Bank has entered, such as India and Bangladesh."

The activation of open banking and the expansion of 'data finance' following the 'Data 3 Act' are also challenges faced by Woori Financial. With the launch of innovative services by fintech (financial technology) companies and big tech (large information and communication companies), competition among financial groups and between financial groups and fintech/big tech is expected to intensify further.

In line with this trend, Woori Bank operates a 'My Data License Preparation Task Force (TF).' The company-wide business agreement with KT related to ICT aims to maximize 'data synergy.' A Woori Financial official said, "We will take the lead in digital and data competition by promoting new businesses such as establishing a joint venture with KT and introducing a joint authentication system."

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