Samsung Man Moves to NongHyup Bank... "Digital Transformation Will Accelerate Even More Next Year"

Interview with Sangrae Lee, Head of Digital Finance Division at NH Nonghyup Bank
"Goal to Realize Customer-Centered Digital Human Bank"
Transforming from 30 Years as a Samsung Man to Leading NH Nonghyup Bank's Digital Transformation as Chief Officer

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] "Considering the trend of digital transformation (DT) across industries including the financial sector, the speed of digital transformation among banks will accelerate even further."

Lee Sang-rae, Chief Digital Officer (CDO, Vice President) of NongHyup Bank's Digital Finance Division, stated in an interview with Asia Economy on the 2nd that recently domestic banks have selected DT as a core strategy and are promoting bank-wide digital transformation. He expressed confidence that NongHyup Bank's digital transformation speed will also accelerate next year. He said, "NongHyup Bank is designating this year as the inaugural year for DT promotion, focusing on establishing a foundation for 'customer-centered digital human bank implementation' and forming a consensus on digital transformation throughout the bank," adding, "2021-2022 will be a period of full-scale and accelerated DT project implementation."

A 30-Year Samsung Veteran Joins the Bank

To lay the foundation for accelerating DT promotion, NongHyup Bank recruited Vice President Lee, a former Samsung SDS executive, as of July 1 this year. Vice President Lee joined Samsung SDS in 1991 and is a digital and data expert who has served as head of the Solution Consulting Team, head of the Data Analytics Business Team (Senior Executive Director), and head of the Digital Marketing Team. He is the first external vice president at NongHyup Bank, excluding the compliance officer.

Vice President Lee stated that NongHyup Bank's DT goal is the implementation of a customer-centered digital human bank. This means enriching and facilitating customers' lives by utilizing digital technology and data. To achieve this, NongHyup Bank has set three main objectives: ▲Customer Value Innovation ▲Employee Value Innovation ▲Digital-based Sustainable Growth, and is currently pursuing a total of 179 digital transformation projects related to these goals.

NongHyup Bank recently established a new DT Promotion Innovation Team. This team acts as the control tower overseeing the bank's digital business. Vice President Lee emphasized, "The top priorities of the DT Promotion Innovation Team are to advance open banking and introduce the MyData business, turning these paradigm-shifting trends in the financial industry into opportunities for NongHyup Bank to take a leap forward."

He continued, "To this end, we are promoting bank-wide responses including efficient data storage and utilization methods, strengthening employee capabilities and organizational structure suitable for the digital era, enhancing platform competitiveness, and discovering core new businesses," adding, "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 aligns with internal and external environmental changes."

Synergy Expected with NongHyup Affiliates through Rapid DT Promotion

At a time when synergy among affiliates is emerging as a key competitive advantage due to accelerated digital transformation, NongHyup Bank is also focusing on playing a pivotal role in creating 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 such 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 processes, providing an easy and convenient digital experience to NongHyup group customers.

"Coexistence Strategy with Big Tech and Major Simple Payment Providers"

Collaboration with companies in other industries for digitalization is also underway.

Vice President Lee said, "Through collaboration with other companies, we aim to become a bank that does not wait for customers to come to us but goes first to the platforms where customers are and waits for them," adding, "We plan to provide customers with financial services that banks excel at easily through a cooperative network with big tech companies, and to this end, we will promote a coexistence strategy with big tech, major simple payment providers, and expand partnerships."

On the same note, on the 22nd of last month, NongHyup Bank signed a business agreement with 11st to discover innovative financial-commerce fusion services, jointly develop innovative services based on financial-distribution data fusion, cooperate on the MyData business, develop innovative financial products combining heterogeneous data, and conduct joint marketing targeting customers.

Vice President Lee also operates various training programs to strengthen employees' digital capabilities.

From short-term commissioned courses to enhance data utilization skills to industry-academia cooperation courses related to core digital technologies, specialized training programs by field and level are being promoted to internalize digital capabilities. In particular, starting this year, a digital education KPI was established for headquarters departments, and basic coding education and digital transformation literacy education for all employees are planned to be mandatory. Vice President Lee said, "We plan to significantly expand support for digital education and certifications to provide an environment where employees can actively participate in training."

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