Major Challenge in Business Expansion... Attracting Diverse Talent
Accelerated Workforce Movement Due to Increased Voluntary Retirement in Banks
[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Big tech companies (large information and communication enterprises) are expanding their workforce through large-scale new hiring. As their business expansion accelerates, securing personnel has become a pressing issue. Additionally, with an increase in voluntary retirements at commercial banks, it is assessed that there will be no significant problems in related personnel supply.
According to the financial sector on the 21st, K-Bank plans to newly hire double-digit employees across five departments by the end of this month. Earlier, K-Bank also conducted recruitment for financial fraud investigation and IT inspection roles this month. Toss Bank is also conducting ongoing recruitment in 10 departments ahead of its launch scheduled for September this year. Toss Bank aims to add about 60 employees through this hiring, reaching a total workforce of around 200 to launch as an internet-only bank.
Kakao Bank is also actively increasing its workforce ahead of its initial public offering (IPO). Since announcing a plan to hire triple-digit employees earlier this year, it has hired about 100 people so far. Currently, Kakao Bank’s workforce exceeds 1,000 employees.
In the fintech industry, Kakao Pay, which recently obtained a preliminary license for digital non-life insurance business, is actively expanding its workforce. Kakao Non-Life Insurance (tentative name) plans to receive about 100 employees from its parent company Kakao Pay before obtaining the official license. Kakao Pay also plans to hire around 300 employees this year.
The reason big tech companies are expanding their workforce on such a large scale is due to the significant expansion of their business areas. K-Bank succeeded in raising 400 billion KRW through a paid-in capital increase in July last year and secured 1.25 trillion KRW in funds last month. Based on this, K-Bank plans to expand mid-interest rate loans and is recruiting the necessary personnel for this purpose. Toss Bank and Kakao Bank are also experiencing increased personnel demand due to the expansion of mid-interest rate loans. Kakao Non-Life Insurance also requires a large number of new employees as it ventures into new areas.
This expansion of big tech companies contrasts with commercial banks. According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s financial statistics system, the number of employees at the five major commercial banks?KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup?was 76,946 at the end of March last year. The number of employees was 77,016 at the end of June that year but declined continuously to 74,716 by the end of March the following year. In contrast, the number of employees at internet-only banks steadily increased from 1,177 at the end of March last year to 1,340 at the end of March this year.
Moreover, the flexible commuting and horizontal culture of big tech companies serve as advantages. Particularly, their high salary levels are a strong point; Toss Bank is known to offer salaries about 1.5 times higher to those switching jobs. In fact, 11 employees from KB Kookmin Bank were dispatched to Kakao Bank in 2017 on the condition of returning after 2?3 years, but all chose to remain at Kakao Bank.
The financial industry expects personnel movement between commercial banks and big tech companies to accelerate further. Internet banks and internet non-life insurance companies urgently need new expertise due to business expansion. On the other hand, commercial banks are hastening personnel adjustments amid rapid digital transformation. From the end of last year to early June this year, a total of 2,495 employees from the five major commercial banks took voluntary retirement. Shinhan Bank, which released 220 employees through voluntary retirement earlier this year, is now accepting additional voluntary retirement applications within five months.
A financial sector official stated, "Since last year, at least dozens of employees have been moving from one bank to big tech companies," adding, "Big tech companies are expanding into new business areas, so IT talent, which has been popular, as well as credit and deposit-related personnel, are also in high demand."
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