Ambitiously Created Citi Bank's 'Non-Face-to-Face Specialized Sales Center'... Essentially a Call Center? (Comprehensive)

Citibank Establishes Customer Value Center and Customer Focus Center in 2017
Call Center Operations Also Managed Due to Expiration of Existing Service Staff Contracts
Concerns Raised Over Increased Labor Costs Due to Workforce Reallocation Without Voluntary Retirement

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] It has been confirmed that Citibank Korea no longer operates a traditional call center after introducing a non-face-to-face specialized sales center. This has led to criticism that the non-face-to-face specialized sales center has effectively become a call center. There are also concerns that the redeployment of personnel without voluntary retirement has made it more difficult for Citibank Korea to ensure employment succession and complete the sale as a whole.

According to Citibank Korea on the 4th, calls from customers are currently handled not by a separate call center but by the ‘Customer Value Center’ within the non-face-to-face specialized sales center. Another department, the ‘Customer Focus Center,’ proactively contacts customers to introduce loan products. The total number of employees is about 300, and except for some outsourced operations, most were redeployed during the branch consolidation process in 2017.

In April 2017, Citibank Korea announced a consolidation plan to reduce 133 consumer finance branches to 32 and introduced the non-face-to-face specialized center. Since over 95% of financial transactions occur non-face-to-face, the blueprint was to provide financial services without branch visits through phone, internet, and mobile channels. The plan included deploying about 30 branch manager-level staff and many middle managers at the manager level or above.

At that time, the labor union strongly opposed the non-face-to-face sales center, fearing it would effectively degrade into a call center. They were concerned that branch staff would be assigned to simple tasks typically handled by call center employees.

The union states that their concerns materialized as the existing call center disappeared. A Citibank Korea official hinted, "(After the center was introduced) contracts with call center outsourced workers expired," adding, "Some field staff who moved to the center after branch closures are effectively handling call center duties as well."

Citibank Korea maintains that the non-face-to-face specialized sales center is different from a call center. While call center staff at other banks handle simple tasks, the non-face-to-face specialized sales center employs personnel with financial experience who provide the same financial services as on-site branches. Brendan Carney, then head of the Consumer Finance Group, also claimed when establishing the center, "The newly introduced Customer Focus Center and Customer Value Center are not call centers but expansions into digital channels such as mobile and internet."

Personnel Redeployment Without Voluntary Retirement, Growing 'Labor Cost' Issues

There are also criticisms that labor costs have worsened due to personnel redeployment without structural reform. This occurred despite the large-scale branch consolidation without implementing voluntary retirement. Citibank Korea has not conducted voluntary retirement since 2014. At that time, special retirement payments equivalent to an average of 36 to 60 months’ salary were given based on years of service, and about 650 employees left. When special retirement payments averaging 36 months’ salary were offered in 2012 to employees with over 15 years of service, 199 employees resigned.

According to the bank’s 2017 estimate, the average annual salary at the non-face-to-face specialized sales center was about 70 million KRW. A Citibank Korea union official criticized, "Trying to save on immediate voluntary retirement costs only increased severance pay," adding, "High-salary personnel have been operated inefficiently."

Citibank Korea, which is withdrawing from the domestic consumer finance sector, had an overall average annual salary of 112 million KRW as of last year. The average employee age is 46.5 years, with an average tenure of 18 years and 3 months. This is higher than major domestic commercial banks. However, productivity per employee is relatively low. Four financial companies interested in acquisition have reportedly expressed concerns about employment succession and full-sale due to cost issues.

The voluntary retirement option is being considered to reduce labor cost burdens during the sale process. Citibank Korea President Yoo Myung-soon also stated in a message to employees, "We will do our best to retain employees through complete and voluntary voluntary retirement and internal redeployment following the sale of the consumer finance division."

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