[Reporter’s Notebook] The Critical Eye on 'Top Salary' Finance Professionals

The salaries of finance professionals have been found to be the highest among all wage workers. According to the ‘2020 Wage Worker Job Income (Compensation) Results’ recently released by Statistics Korea, the monthly salary of workers in the finance and insurance sector was 6.6 million won. This is about twice the average monthly salary of all workers, which was 3.6 million won. Since Statistics Korea began the survey in 2016, this is the first time the finance sector has ranked first in monthly salary.

The significant increase in salaries for those in the financial sector is due to record-breaking performance by financial companies. Loan demand, which had become difficult during the COVID-19 phase, surged greatly. The Donghak Ant Movement and the frenzy of Yeongkkeul (investing by borrowing every possible resource) and Debt Investment (borrowing to invest) driven by soaring housing prices also contributed. Improved performance translated into high salary increases and extraordinary bonuses exceeding 200%.

The public’s view is not favorable. It is not simply because financial companies ‘make a lot of money.’ It is because they have not witnessed fierce competition and bold investment. Large corporations have engaged in what can truly be called ‘free market competition’ with global companies. They continuously invested in new products and services to survive. The public does not complain about large corporations’ employee bonuses because they feel the companies’ innovation in the consumer market.

On the other hand, banks still earn 90% of their revenue from domestic interest income. In fact, the proportion of interest income is increasing. Due to government regulations and liquidity reasons, loan interest rates were raised quickly, while deposit interest rates were raised slowly. This is why criticism of ‘making money by just holding money’ arises.

There has been no tangible innovation or convenience felt. Whenever products like ‘Hope Loan Plus’ or ‘Youth Hope Savings’ were launched, bank applications (apps) experienced frequent errors. Due to branch consolidations, visiting a bank now requires walking tens of minutes on foot. It has been a long time since ‘innovative branches’ were advocated, yet they are still at the stage of ‘experimental introduction.’

Banks must also compete, invest, and innovate. They must provide better services to financial consumers. If they bring significant added value to the market, the public will not care whether bank bonuses are 300% or 400%. That is the true free market economy.

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