"Mission to Secure 80 Customers per Employee" Bankers Struggling with MyData Allocation

Concerns Over Excessive Competition Ahead of Pilot Service on Next Month's 1st
Some Bank Employees Assigned 80 Clients Each... "Excessive Performance Pressure" Criticized
FSS Warns of 'Excessive Competition and Personal Information Leakage'... Requests Restraint from Banking Sector

[Asia Economy Kim Jin-ho] Jeong Min-su (38, pseudonym), who works at branch A of a major commercial bank, has recently been encouraging customers at the counter to participate in the ongoing ‘MyData Event.’ He has already shared the event page with relatives, acquaintances, and even people two or three degrees removed. He also never forgets to ask them to put his name as the recommending employee. The reason is the recently assigned performance targets. Jeong said, "They even created additional (personnel evaluation, etc.) bonus points based on performance," adding, "It’s so intense that I wonder if they really have to push employees this hard."

With the pilot service of ‘MyData’ scheduled to launch on the 1st of next month, bank employees are suffering from performance-related stress. Fierce competition to attract customers is underway for the MyData business, which is considered a future growth engine, and employees must meet assigned targets. Financial authorities, concerned about excessive competition and personal information leaks, have decided to issue restraint recommendations to banks.

According to the financial sector on the 10th, major commercial banks are conducting pre-registration events ahead of the MyData pilot service launch on the 1st of next month. Some commercial banks are offering expensive prizes such as Starbucks gift cards, the latest smartphones, and luxury cars to attract customers. This is part of an intense behind-the-scenes competition to secure market dominance. The more market share they capture, the more diverse asset management services based on extensive data become possible.

Given this situation, some banks have even set quotas per employee at each branch. Branches of Bank B located in major areas of Seoul have been instructed to secure 70 to 80 customers per employee. Employees, fearing that failing to meet quotas will lower their Key Performance Indicator (KPI) scores and result in disadvantages in bonuses or promotions, are reluctantly pushing hard to meet their targets.

The financial sector points out that the situation ahead of the MyData launch resembles the excessive competition among banks during the 2016 Individual Savings Account (ISA) period. At that time, fierce competition occurred with quotas assigned per employee, but the reckless focus on sales led to the so-called ‘empty account’ controversy.

The union of Bank B has protested, demanding accountability from management. While acknowledging the importance of MyData as a future growth business, they criticized the haphazard marketing approach of assigning quotas just before the launch. Internally, there is also criticism that this is pressuring employees to boost short-term performance in an outdated manner. A union official said, "Those responsible for the lack of preparation should be held accountable," adding, "If this is an important business, shouldn’t there have been more thorough preparation years ago?"

Financial authorities have also begun preparing countermeasures. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) expressed concerns that excessive prize offerings and employee quotas could trigger controversies over excessive competition. A senior FSS official said, "After assessing the specific situation, we will signal all banks to exercise restraint or prohibition," adding, "If customers are signed up indiscriminately, side effects such as personal information leaks are also a concern, so we plan to guide banks to refrain from excessive competition for now."

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