KakaoBank Surpasses 1,000 Employees... Largest Scale Among Internet Banks

This Year Alone, Over 100 New Hires in the First Half... 50 Billion KRW Investment Planned Over 3 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] KakaoBank announced on the 1st that the total number of employees has exceeded 1,000 for the first time. Since its launch in July 2017 with about 300 employees, the number has more than tripled in four years. This is the largest scale among domestic internet-only banks.

As of the end of last month, KakaoBank recorded 1,023 employees. In the year KakaoBank was launched, there were 390 employees; in 2018, 603; in 2019, 786; and last year, it surpassed 913. More than 100 employees were additionally hired in the first half of this year alone.

KakaoBank was recognized for creating quality jobs in the finance and IT sectors and establishing a virtuous cycle structure where employment and growth coexist. It was selected as an 'Outstanding Job Creation Company' by the Ministry of Employment and Labor in 2019 and received the 'Korea Job Merit Award' from the Presidential Committee on Jobs in December last year.

KakaoBank has secured talent through open recruitment and continued growth by building differentiated competitiveness. Instead of using names and ranks, employees are called by their English names, and the company has a horizontal organizational culture where the CEO and employees work in the same space without a separate CEO office. As of the end of March 2021, 83% of the total employees were under 40 years old.

About 40% of the total employees are IT professionals. Since 2018, KakaoBank has been conducting open recruitment for experienced developers, and it is well known for attracting many applicants every year due to growth opportunities as developers and its horizontal culture.

KakaoBank offers various welfare programs. It operates a 'flexible working hours system' as a basic policy and has established various programs to support employees' balanced lives, including medical expenses and health checkups for employees and their families.

KakaoBank plans to invest 50 billion KRW over three years to expand the hiring of outstanding talent and continuously provide differentiated non-face-to-face financial services. To this end, it will steadily recruit personnel in various job fields such as customer service, risk management, business, and services, as well as IT professionals.

A KakaoBank official stated, "We will continue to actively hire excellent talent who will lead the future, sustain innovation in financial services, and strengthen financial inclusion for middle- and low-credit customers."

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