[Financial Digital New Normal] Chairman Kim Kwangsoo "Accelerating DT through Synergy among Affiliates"

⑤NH Nonghyup Financial Group
DT Transformation Efforts Since Last Year
Plans to Secure 3,000 Digital Personnel
Nonghyup Bank "Priorities Include Open Banking Advancement and MyData Business Introduction"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] "The means of digital innovation is technology, but the purpose must be people, and digital humanism that prioritizes the values of customers and employees must be achieved." At the digital transformation (DT) vision declaration ceremony of NH Nonghyup Financial Group in October 2019, Kim Kwang-soo, Chairman of NH Nonghyup Financial, spoke about the direction of DT in this way.

Nonghyup Financial began essential structural reform work for its leap as a digital financial group starting last year. Nonghyup Financial has led digital finance by launching the first open platform in the banking sector. However, Chairman Kim judged that DT, which innovates all processes including customer experience, internal operations, and organizational culture, should take precedence. This immediately led to action. In May last year, a DT promotion task force team (TFT) was formed, and in October, a DT vision and roadmap were prepared.

The Top Priority for Nonghyup Financial is 'Digital Management Innovation'

This year, the top priority of Nonghyup Financial's management strategy is digital management innovation.

A supreme council for DT promotion chaired by the chairman was operated, and a DT index quantifying the promotion status by affiliates was introduced, along with a management system reflecting the performance evaluation of affiliate CEOs. In May, as the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) made non-face-to-face life routine, Chairman Kim ordered all affiliates to accelerate company-wide DT promotion and instructed a transition to a wartime-level promotion posture. Since then, Chairman Kim has been directly overseeing the entire process by frequently checking the DT promotion status through the 'DT Amoeba Meeting,' which has the flexibility to be separated or merged as needed.

At the 4th Nonghyup Financial DT Promotion Supreme Council held in September, chaired by Chairman Kim, a plan to advance the DT roadmap combined with the company-wide strategy was created based on a comprehensive review of customer, product, service, and channel strategies. After adjusting the DT tasks according to the established DT roadmap advancement plan, it will be reflected in next year's business plan and organizational restructuring.

Nonghyup Financial's DT Promotion to Double Speed from Next Year

Nonghyup Financial's DT promotion will accelerate to twice the speed starting next year.

The financial holding company plays the role of horizontally connecting affiliates that are fully committed to implementing the DT roadmap. Six affiliate-connecting missions are underway: ▲building and operating an integrated customer perspective platform ▲establishing a group big data platform ▲activating cloud usage ▲strengthening digital research and development (R&D) capabilities ▲enhancing digital human resources ▲building a comprehensive Nonghyup digital ecosystem. To increase the speed of DT promotion, a goal has been set to secure 3,000 digital personnel, accounting for 16% of the total workforce by 2025.

The vanguard of Nonghyup Financial's DT is its core subsidiary, Nonghyup Bank. Leveraging the characteristic that banks are the fastest among financial affiliates to apply new technologies, it serves as a DT testbed within the group. Son Byung-hwan, who took office as president of Nonghyup Bank in March this year, is a digital finance expert and is regarded as a first-generation digital finance leader in the industry. He was the main figure who led the introduction of the first open platform in the banking sector in 2015.

Nonghyup Bank, Vanguard of DT … Currently Progressing 179 Digital Transformation Tasks
"2021-2022 is the period of full-scale and accelerated DT project implementation"

Therefore, when President Son took office, expectations arose in the financial sector that Nonghyup Financial's digitalization speed would increase. President Son is so committed to digitalization that he gave a presentation on DT for over an hour at a workshop in the second half of the year. Nonghyup Bank's recruitment of Lee Sang-rae, former Samsung SDS executive, as Chief Digital Officer (CDO, Vice President) of the Digital Finance Division on July 1 this year was also to lay the foundation for accelerating DT promotion.

Vice President Lee said, "Nonghyup Bank regards this year as the inaugural year of DT promotion, establishing a foundation for DT to realize a customer-centered digital human bank and forming a consensus on digital transformation throughout the bank. The bank is currently progressing with a total of 179 digital transformation tasks, and 2021-2022 will be a period of full-scale and accelerated DT project implementation," expressing confidence.

The bank also newly established the DT Promotion Innovation Team, which serves as the control tower overseeing Nonghyup Bank's digital projects. Vice President Lee emphasized, "The priority tasks of the DT Promotion Innovation Team are to take advantage of the era-changing trends that greatly transform the financial industry, such as the advancement of open banking and the introduction of the MyData business, as opportunities for Nonghyup Bank to make a leap forward."

He explained, "To this end, we are promoting bank-wide responses such as efficient data storage and utilization methods, strengthening employee capabilities and organizational system adjustments suitable for the digital era, enhancing platform competitiveness, and discovering core new businesses. At the same time, we focus on viewing all products and services from the customer's perspective, continuously improving them, and establishing a flexible and swift organizational culture that meets internal and external environmental changes."

At a time when synergy among affiliates is emerging as an important competitive advantage due to accelerated digital transformation, Nonghyup Bank is also focusing on playing a bridgehead role that can create synergy with Nonghyup group affiliates through rapid DT promotion.

For example, Nonghyup Bank's smart banking app customers can purchase excellent agricultural products from Nonghyup Mall, and Nonghyup Mall customers can use Nonghyup Bank's digital services, enhancing synergy among affiliates through marketing. Recently, Nonghyup Bank introduced 'NH One Pass,' a service that allows 17 million NH Smart Banking users to sign up and authenticate for services of Nonghyup Financial and distribution affiliates (such as Nonghyup Mall and Nonghyup Life) without installing separate applications or going through additional registration procedures, providing easy and convenient digital experiences to Nonghyup group customers.

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