[1mm Financial Talk] Bank Employees Taking Loans from Other Banks..."They Go Where Interest Rates Are Lower"

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[Asia Economy Reporters Song Hwajeong and Lee Minwoo]#Last year, Mr. A, who joined a bank, recently attended a college reunion and felt envious of his classmates who got jobs at large corporations. One classmate working at a major company bragged about buying a car with a 30% employee discount, while another mentioned the substantial employee discounts at department stores. The classmates said that during times of rising interest rates like now, bank employees are the most enviable, and they asked Mr. A how much benefit he received when taking out loans. However, Mr. A could not say anything. He could not reveal that instead of employee benefits, he checks the interest rates of various banks daily to get a loan at a lower rate.

#Mr. C, who works at Bank B, recently took out a loan through KakaoBank for a jeonse deposit. Although he works at a bank, his own bank only allows a credit loan limit of 20 million won, so he uses KakaoBank, which offers lower interest rates and higher limits.

As interest rates rise, bank employees are also scrambling to get loans at lower rates. This is because the loan limit at their own bank is fixed, and they cannot expect any preferential interest rate benefits.

According to the financial sector on the 12th, under the banking supervision regulations, general loans for financial company employees are limited to 20 million won. Including a housing mortgage loan limit of 50 million won, employees can borrow up to a maximum of 60 million won from their own bank. This amount is grossly insufficient given the sharp rise in housing prices. Moreover, with recent interest rate hikes, bank employees have no choice but to look for loans from other companies.

The strict loan standards for bank employees are due to fairness. Internal employees may have better knowledge of credit evaluation models and the types of loans that are easily approved, which could lead to unfairness and abuse. Also, when loan screening is conducted by employees of the same company, situations may arise that violate fairness compared to the general public. Just as banks are criticized for profiting excessively from interest, giving their own employees ultra-low interest loans with those earnings is seen as an unfair privilege. Especially, there is a negative view of high-salary bank employees enjoying low-interest benefits. The average salary of employees at the four major banks?KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, and Woori?exceeded 100 million won last year.

In the past, financial companies including banks gave their employees preferential loans at very low interest rates, but after criticism from the National Assembly and others, financial authorities put a stop to such practices. Since then, financial companies have requested an increase in loan limits, but the financial authorities have not accepted these requests.

Bank employees express strong dissatisfaction, saying they are being discriminated against. An employee in his early 30s at a major commercial bank said, "Major corporations and rising fintech companies like KakaoPay also promote internal loan support as part of employee welfare, so I don't understand why banks get scrutinized for providing in-house loans to their employees." He added, "While unfair and excessive internal loans should certainly be punished, I think benefits as part of employee welfare are not a big problem."

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