Average Compensation of Internet Bank Employees 80 Million KRW... Yoon Ho-young, CEO of KakaoBank, 560 Million KRW

Last Year Average Employee Compensation: KakaoBank 79 Million KRW, K Bank 80 Million KRW

Yoon Ho-young, CEO of Kakao Bank

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The average compensation for employees of internet-only banks such as KakaoBank and K Bank was calculated to be around 80 million KRW. Additionally, Yoon Ho-young, CEO of KakaoBank, whose annual salary was disclosed for the first time, received 564 million KRW last year.

According to the governance and compensation system annual reports disclosed by KakaoBank and K Bank on the 5th, the average employee compensation at KakaoBank last year was 79 million KRW, and at K Bank, it was 80 million KRW. The average compensation is calculated by dividing the total annual compensation paid to all employees, including the CEO, by the number of employees as of the end of the year.

Looking at the average employee compensation over the past three years, KakaoBank’s figures were 66 million KRW in 2018, 71 million KRW in 2019, and 79 million KRW in 2020, showing steady growth each year. K Bank’s figures were 72 million KRW in 2018, 82 million KRW in 2019, and 80 million KRW in 2020.

However, both banks explained that since internet banks often hire employees mid-year, the total compensation amount reflects the actual payment rather than the annualized amount for mid-year hires. Therefore, there may be differences between the average employee compensation disclosed in the reports and the actual average compensation.

They also added that while employees who retired during the year are excluded from the employee count, the compensation paid to retirees is included in the total employee compensation, which should be taken into account when interpreting these figures.

KakaoBank CEO Yoon Ho-young received a total annual salary of 564 million KRW last year, combining 356 million KRW in salary and 208 million KRW in performance bonuses.

He is the only KakaoBank employee to receive more than 500 million KRW in compensation, and his annual salary was disclosed for the first time through the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system business report. The performance bonus included in Yoon’s salary was paid in the first quarter of last year based on the 2019 evaluation, and it included deferred bonuses from 2017 and 2018.

Looking at the combined salary and bonuses of the heads of the four major commercial banks last year: Heo In, KB Kookmin Bank CEO, earned 1.729 billion KRW; Jin Ok-dong, Shinhan Bank CEO, earned 1.13 billion KRW; Ji Sung-kyu, former Hana Bank CEO, earned 1.022 billion KRW; and Kwon Kwang-seok, Woori Bank CEO, earned 553 million KRW.

The K Bank CEO’s annual salary was below the disclosure threshold of 500 million KRW and therefore was not made public.

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