Banks to Continue Nurturing In-House YouTubers This Year

On July 29 last year, Jin Ok-dong, CEO of Shinhan Bank, and employees are taking a commemorative photo at the Shinhan Bank Influencer Launch Ceremony held at a complex cultural space in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Shinhan Bank

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] Major banks are once again discovering in-house employee YouTubers and developing new content this year to target younger generations. Through YouTube marketing, they intend to shed the image of banks as difficult and rigid institutions, strengthen engagement with young consumers, and enhance brand appeal.

According to the banking sector on the 15th, NH Nonghyup Bank plans to select 10 in-house YouTubers within this month. There are no restrictions on applicants, and those who can appear in videos to act or deliver information about financial products and bank news are eligible. The 19 selected last year ended their activities as of December 31.

Nonghyup Bank also plans to recruit young farmers to work as YouTubers next month. They will select five ‘NH Cheongnyeon Nonghyupin’ (NH Young Farmers) to produce content related to returning to farming. A bank official said, “We are preparing content that people who are considering or interested in returning to farming can enjoy.”

Shinhan Bank will continue to support the 10 in-house YouTubers selected last year. In July last year, the bank chose 10 in-house YouTubers named ‘SongTube,’ combining the Korean initials ‘ㅅ’ and ‘ㅎ’ from ‘Shinhan.’

What is unique is that these in-house YouTubers operate their own channels rather than the official Shinhan Bank channel, acting as both bank employees and YouTubers. Some upload travel vlogs, health-related videos, or run channels about finance, stocks, and investments. One employee’s YouTube subscriber count reaches about 11,000.

A Shinhan Bank official said, “Over about six months, the 10 YouTubers produced over 150 pieces of content, with a total of 350,000 views. To activate the channels, we are preparing to promote SongTube content through the official Shinhan Bank channel and collaborate with other popular YouTubers.”

Kookmin Bank is also known to be preparing content planning by discovering creators among employees who are talented and possess professional knowledge. Hana Bank is discussing video production collaborations with famous influencers.

The trend of nurturing employee YouTubers among banks began last year. It was to increase contact points with customers in their teens to thirties who are familiar with video content. Young customers rarely visit branches and conduct banking through non-face-to-face means such as smartphones, so banks have directly entered the ‘content world’ they frequently visit.

Woori Bank plans to further expand its financial entertainment channel ‘Uttube (Utsum + YouTube),’ launched last year. Currently, it uploads content weekly such as ‘Eungeunnamnyeo Sseol’ featuring bank employees and a general public dating program ‘Chomyeon-e Sillyejiman.’ New content is scheduled to be introduced in late this month. Uttube is praised for combining fun and humor to the extent that it is hard to see it as typical financial or economic content made by a bank.