Bankers Packing Up One After Another Amid Accelerated Digital Transformation

2500 Employees Retire from 5 Major Banks
Focus on Embracing 'Digital Instant Power'

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] While internet banks and big tech (large information and communication companies) and fintech (finance + technology) companies are actively recruiting talent, bankers at commercial banks are leaving one after another.

This is due to the banks' "downsizing" efforts to catch up with the overall digital innovation trend in the financial industry, combined with bankers' interests in receiving a large sum of money and retiring while the opportunity still exists.

According to the banking sector on the 16th, about 2,500 employees from the five major commercial banks?KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup?left their workplaces through voluntary retirement from the end of last year to last month. This is about 800 more than the approximately 1,700 people a year ago.

In the case of Kookmin Bank, 800 employees packed up as of the 30th of last month. This is 1.7 times the scale of voluntary retirement under the wage peak system last year (462 people), and significantly higher compared to 2019 (613 people) and 2018 (407 people).

At Hana Bank and Nonghyup Bank, 511 and 496 employees left respectively at the end of last year, and at Woori Bank, 468 people took voluntary retirement at the end of last month. It is also reported that about 220 people retired at Shinhan Bank at the end of last month.

Banks induced retirement by offering exceptional conditions such as up to three years' worth of wages, tuition support, and job transition support payments.

A banking sector official said, "This means that improving the organizational structure for digital transformation is urgent," and predicted, "Such forms of restructuring may expand further in the future."

Instead, banks are focusing on enhancing competitiveness by hiring professionals and experienced workers who can be immediately deployed in digital and ICT fields.

Shinhan Bank has been conducting digital and ICT open recruitment since 2019, the first among domestic banks. Other banks have also been actively recruiting experienced personnel in these fields through open recruitment formats since last year.

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