[New Year's Address] Kim Ji-wan, Chairman of BNK Financial Group, "The Era of Relying Solely on Commercial Banking Is Over"

Presented 'Byeonjeok Tonggu (變則通久)' as the 2021 Group Management Theme

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] Kim Ji-wan, Chairman of BNK Financial Group, stated in his New Year's address on the 4th, “The era of relying solely on conventional commercial banking operations is already over.”

He emphasized the need to boldly transform into a financial company specializing in investments to secure the future of a 100-year financial group, responding to the rapid changes in the financial industry and BNK’s future growth by ‘transitioning to an investment-specialized financial company.’ Furthermore, presenting ‘Byeonjeuktonggu (變則通久),’ meaning ‘Change leads to communication and longevity,’ as the group’s management motto for 2021, he urged, “All employees of the group should embrace change and boldly challenge themselves to take a step forward toward the goal of becoming a ‘Global Standard Financial Group.’”

BNK Financial Group also carried out an organizational restructuring to enhance management efficiency through concrete execution of plans and organizational refinement.

First, the bank’s CIB Center located in Seoul was elevated to a department to strengthen IB-related sales capabilities, and professional personnel will be continuously expanded. The group plans to promote a ‘Metropolitan and Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) regional hub strategy’ centered on the bank, capital, and investment securities within the group to increase work synergy through group-level collaboration. Additionally, through savings banks, asset management, and venture investments, the group plans to participate in alternative investment businesses, establish infrastructure project funds, and invest in venture capital closely tied to the Bu-Ul-Gyeong region.

In the digital sector, BNK established the ‘BNK Digital Center’ to strengthen internal research and development (R&D) functions related to digital technologies and plans to further expand business model development through collaboration and joint development of core technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data with companies located in the metropolitan area. Reflecting the recent growing importance of customer asset management such as pensions and trusts, the group also established the ‘Pension and Trust Planning Department’ within the holding company to further strengthen synergies related to the group’s pension and trust businesses.

Meanwhile, BNK is shifting its business portfolio toward expanding revenue from non-bank and non-interest sectors in line with changes in the banking industry. It is increasing investments in real estate alternative investment sectors such as BNK Tower in Yeouido, Seoul, and Gangnam Platinum Tower, and is making various efforts to overcome the limitations of revenue generation primarily based on traditional banking by expanding equity investments in venture capital through BNK Venture Investment, acquired in 2019. Chairman Kim emphasized, “We plan to raise the proportion of non-interest income, expected to be about 18% in 2020, to over 30% in the mid to long term.”

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