Same as the brand name... K Bank to proceed with company name change excluding 'Bank'

Decision at Upcoming Extraordinary General Meeting
Discussion on Stock Options for All Employees

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] K-Bank is pushing for a name change by removing the word "Bank" from its official corporate name "K-Bank Bank" through an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. Initially, the word "Bank" was included in the corporate name to prevent confusion and increase recognition, but as the cumulative number of customers exceeded 6 million, the company decided to unify the corporate name and brand name. Along with this, the expansion of stock options for all employees is also expected to be discussed.

According to the banking sector on the 9th, K-Bank will soon hold an extraordinary general meeting to discuss the agenda regarding the name change and the expansion of stock option grants.

K-Bank has maintained the official corporate name "K-Bank Bank" since applying for the banking business license in September 2016. The reason for including "Bank" in the name was to prevent confusion. As Korea's first internet-only bank, K-Bank faced recognition issues at its launch. Additionally, when forming various partnerships, it was a way to clearly emphasize to counterparties that it is a "bank."

However, with K-Bank's recognition greatly increasing, including a record growth of 2.28 million new subscribers in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter, the company decided to unify the brand name and corporate name. KakaoBank also changed its name from Korea Kakao Bank last June. As of the end of June, K-Bank's cumulative users numbered 6.19 million, with loan balances of 5.09 trillion KRW and deposits of 2.57 trillion KRW.

At the K-Bank extraordinary general meeting, the name change and the granting of stock options to all current employees will be discussed together. In April of this year, K-Bank granted up to 900,000 stock options to CEO Ho-sung Seo.

Stock options are a system that grants employees the right to purchase company shares at a predetermined price. After a certain period, if the company grows and the stock price rises, employees can enjoy the resulting gains. It is an incentive used by companies with high growth potential to prevent employee turnover. K-Bank is the first in the banking sector to provide stock options to all employees. If K-Bank sequentially achieves its goals such as turning a profit in 2022 and an initial public offering (IPO) in 2023, the gains employees obtain from stock options are expected to be substantial.

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