Gwangju Bank Holds Q4 Management Strategy Meeting... Commitment to Strengthening Internal Management

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Gwangju Bank (President Song Jong-wook) announced that it held the 2021 4th Quarter Management Strategy Meeting over two days starting from the 13th, creating an open communication and empathy platform to strengthen solid internal management.

To comply with COVID-19 quarantine rules, the management strategy meetings were held separately in the morning and afternoon over two days by each business headquarters.

During this management strategy meeting, an awards ceremony was held for employees who achieved excellent performance in the 3rd quarter to boost morale, and outstanding sales cases by each division and 4th quarter initiatives were presented to reaffirm new determination.

Gwangju Bank set the key strategies for the remaining period of the 4th quarter as ▲expanding financial support for small business owners and middle-to-low income groups ▲qualitative growth and proactive risk management ▲strengthening digital competitiveness, pledging to reinforce solid internal management.

President Song Jong-wook of Gwangju Bank said, “In response to the rapidly changing management environment in the 4th quarter, including prolonged COVID-19, tightened loan regulations, and aggressive moves by big tech companies, we must prepare proactive response strategies such as strengthening soundness management, reviewing asset portfolios, and securing digital competitiveness, while continuously evolving and innovating in line with structural changes in the financial market and changes in customers.”

He added, “Especially, by practicing community-based management and inclusive finance, we should faithfully fulfill the role of regional financial development as the representative bank of Gwangju and Jeonnam, while leading digital innovation to respond to the intensified competitive environment caused by fintech and big tech companies entering the financial industry, thereby growing into a sustainable 100-year bank.”

Gwangju Bank, the first local bank to obtain the full license for MyData, is focusing on securing digital platform competitiveness to respond to the digital era of finance and the activation of non-face-to-face finance by putting effort into leading digital innovation.

Recently, it fully revamped and launched the ‘Gwangju Bank Personal Banking’ service, which is faster and more convenient centered on users, achieved the automation of 100 tasks through RPA (Robotic Process Automation), and demonstrated results such as streamlining work through the establishment of a BPR (Business Process Reengineering) system.

To this end, it conducted a personnel exchange program with Toss, the first in the financial sector, sharing working methods and organizational culture of fintech companies, and announced that it will continue various activities to promptly respond to changes in the digital financial environment.

At the suggestion of President Song, this meeting was held in a ‘TokTok Day’ format, departing from the traditional presentation and reporting style, allowing free exchange of opinions through horizontal communication. Branch managers freely shared various opinions on analyzing branch status, identifying problems, and establishing improvement plans without being bound by form or procedure, efficiently building progress toward goals.

President Song has emphasized communication among members to create a happy workplace and has introduced the new ‘TokTok Day’ format since the 2nd quarter management strategy meeting, which has become a platform for open communication and empathy among executives and employees.

The positive response from employees to the ‘TokTok Day’ format evolved into a more participatory event called ‘TokTok Empathy Festival with SongPro,’ allowing more employees to join.

With 131 employees participating in sessions divided by rank and region, the ‘TokTok Empathy Festival with SongPro’ directly led by President Song Jong-wook featured horizontal communication where neither the bank president nor employees used formal titles; employees called President Song ‘SongPro.’ In August, a ‘TokTok Day’ was also held with MZ generation new employees via a metaverse platform to strengthen digital communication.

This horizontal communication leadership of President Song has become a unique corporate culture of Gwangju Bank by understanding the 20s and 30s MZ generation employees and breaking down invisible walls with older generations.

Additionally, to broaden communication channels with customers, Gwangju Bank strengthened its role as a bridge between customers and the bank by selecting internal employees as SNS supporters called ‘Gwang-eun Inssa’ and appointing university student ambassadors. It also focused on brand promotion based on communication with customers through events such as the ‘Customer UCC Video Contest’ and the ‘Employee SNS Gwang-eun Star Contest.’

Meanwhile, Gwangju Bank, leading the virtuous cycle of the regional economy by practicing community-based management and inclusive finance, received the ‘Highest’ grade in the 2021 Regional Reinvestment Evaluation announced by the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service in August.

In the regional reinvestment evaluation, an indicator showing how much a financial institution receiving regional deposits contributes to regional economic growth, Gwangju Bank received high scores in both quantitative evaluations such as local fund supply, support for small and medium enterprises, and infrastructure investment, and qualitative evaluations such as economic contribution within the region, investment in local companies, and COVID-19 related financial support, recognizing its efforts to revitalize the regional economy.

Gwangju Bank, rolling up its sleeves for regional economic revitalization in all local matters, contributed greatly as the third largest shareholder by investing 26 billion KRW, following Gwangju Metropolitan City and Hyundai Motor Company, in the new car ‘Casper’ of Gwangju Global Motors (GGM), a Gwangju-type job model.

Despite no participation from other commercial banks, Gwangju Bank declared its investment first as the representative regional bank, showing strong will to contribute to local job creation, playing a pioneering role in attracting investments from excellent local companies and solidifying its status as the representative bank of Gwangju and Jeonnam.

Furthermore, to establish a virtuous cycle structure in the regional economy, it launched the ‘Love for the Region Account,’ donating part of the profits to the respective regions based on sales performance to contribute to community development. Through the ‘Gwangju·Jeonnam Love Card’ series, the first product launched after President Song’s inauguration, it has donated 720 million KRW to the local social welfare community chest over the past three years.

It also established an ESG team and ESG Promotion Committee to promote ESG management, focusing on inclusive finance and productive finance.

Following President Song’s management philosophy of ‘coexistence with the region and companionship with local residents’ pursuing ‘value beyond profit,’ Gwangju Bank actively practices ESG management strategies, participating in various areas such as coal phase-out, Green New Deal agreements, Gwangju Stream relay volunteer activities, environmental love, and selling inclusive financial products for self-employed, small business owners, and middle-to-low credit borrowers.

Recently, it announced plans to use funds raised by issuing 100 billion KRW worth of won-denominated ESG bonds, which received the highest ESG certification grade, for eco-friendly projects to activate green finance and support local small and medium enterprises and small business owners struggling due to COVID-19.

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