[Power K-Women] Don't Just Cross the Boundary Line, Erase It Completely

Osunyoung KB Geumyungjiju Financial AI Center Head
From IT Industry to Finance Sector... Competing with Diverse Practical Experience
"Must Have a Habit of Doing Even Minor Tasks Neatly"

Editor's NoteAsia Economy has selected women active in various fields both domestically and internationally as 'Power K-Women' and plans to announce them at the ‘2023 Women Leaders Forum’ to be held on October 24th at the Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul. These women leaders have broken down or transcended barriers such as gender, race, disability, and poverty to create new and universal values. Their stories will provide comfort to a weary world, serve as role models for others, and empower communities to move forward. We introduce candidates for Power K-Women who have stood up and fought without shrinking from discrimination or being trapped by boundaries.

"Don't just jump over the line called a boundary?erase it." Osunyoung, Head of the Financial AI Center at KB Financial Group (Executive Director), has consistently eliminated 'boundaries.' Executive Director Oh became the first female Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in the history of Hancom and later moved to the financial sector to lead AI-related work. Although those around her discouraged her from moving from the free-spirited IT industry to the conservative financial sector, this actually motivated her even more.

She described herself as having characteristics like a 'moth to a flame.' Even when there were risks, she chose to charge ahead rather than watch from the sidelines, with a strong willingness to take responsibility. Although she does not fit the typical financial executive profile of being 'SKY (Seoul National University, Korea University, Yonsei University) educated with a master's or doctorate,' she erased the 'boundary' herself and rose to become the commander leading AI at KB Financial Group, the industry leader.

From the Youngest Developer at a Dotcom Venture to KB Executive

Executive Director Oh's first job was at a dotcom venture, which would be considered a startup today. Starting as the youngest developer, she learned the job by following everything from server development to sales. She then worked at Hancom for 17 years, gaining experience from development to management. She said, "Because I developed products that ran on various operating systems, I was able to gain diverse experiences. Also, since I co-founded a Korea-China joint venture and served as co-CEO, I was able to gain management experience."

Even during her time at Hancom, she was known for not shying away from difficult projects. Executive Director Oh recalled, "From a practitioner's perspective, when given unreasonable tasks, I often wondered why I had to do them. If it was truly unreasonable, I spoke up, but I tried to turn it into a feasible project." She emphasized the importance of having the habit of finishing even very minor tasks neatly like a professional. She explained, "When such habits, responsibility, and know-how accumulate, you can reach a level different from others at some point."

Although she reached the top position at Hancom, she began thinking about her next challenge. Executive Director Oh said, "Since I hadn't worked in finance, Yeouido became a challenge I wanted to try. New experiences in my career have always been driven strongly by 'curiosity.'" In fact, after coming to the financial sector, she said she did not feel much difference except that the mindset and attitude were heavier. Executive Director Oh laughed, saying, "As an engineer, I enjoy the process of understanding and learning new terms and businesses."

Osunyoung, Head of Financial AI Center at KB Financial Group (Executive Director). Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

"Maintain proper etiquette but keep my unique color"

Born in 1977, Executive Director Oh is among the youngest in executive meetings. There was a view that it would be difficult for her, who was used to the free IT industry, to adapt to the conservative financial sector, but that was unfounded. Executive Director Oh explained, "KB Financial has a very inclusive and warm organizational culture, so I adapted quickly at first. Of course, I changed my attire from T-shirts and jeans to fit KB, but I did not kill my unique 'color.'"

The Financial AI Center led by Executive Director Oh is a dual-role organization of KB Kookmin Bank and KB Financial Group. It is the first within KB to utilize new AI technologies and discovers and disseminates AI use cases across various KB operations. They develop financial-specialized language models and use them for KB's AI service development, and are preparing services by developing a mobile version of an AI financial assistant.

Regarding KB's strengths, she said, "People say KB is more conservative or slower than Toss or Kakao Bank, but after coming here, I realized that KB has been working with customers' money for a long time, and the basic mindset is 'trust' and 'soundness,' so risk management is well done." She emphasized, "KB Financial executives are studying hard about change." She added, "Over a long time, KB has accumulated know-how from various environmental changes in finance, and KB's financial content, which forms the learning data base for AI services, is quite rich. This will be a great competitive advantage in the AI era."

"Proactiveness in work is needed more than strict 'standards'"

She does not fit the common financial executive formula of being 'male, SKY graduate, master's or doctorate,' but her practical experience is more brilliant than anyone else's. Executive Director Oh confidently said, "Putting aside theoretical studies and papers, I have done (work) on all platforms, built AI organizations, and commercialized them, so I have know-how from that experience." She added, "The work I did with responsibility accumulated into skills and expertise. No one knew AI, which was not invested in, would become a trend, and the future is unpredictable."

Especially as AI technology has become essential, Executive Director Oh's career has shone. She explained, "Since AI has become like a seasoning for all technologies, I have studied various things like drones and mobility, becoming a person who can integrate multiple fields well. Rather than being a talent who is good at only one thing, if you become someone who can find synergy effects, you will become a different person from who you were yesterday." She added, "If you think from a management perspective about what would bring the highest satisfaction when accomplishing something, work naturally follows, rather than passively doing assigned tasks."

With a diverse career, she also consistently serves as a mentor to university students and young professionals. Executive Director Oh said, "Competition for executives is fierce regardless of industry, and the number of women is similarly low. Generally, women tend to have higher standards for themselves than men." She noted that female university students rarely say they are good at coding during mentoring. She advised, "Instead of saying 'I'm not ready yet, so maybe next time,' you need to have the proactiveness to step forward and be more generous with yourself."

▶ Executive Director Osunyoung was

Born in 1977, she graduated from Daejin Girls' High School in Seoul and the Department of Computer Science at Seoul Women's University. In 2020, she was appointed as Hancom's first female CTO (Executive Director), gaining attention. She later served as CEO of Hancom Interpri and until May last year was CTO of Hancom Intelligence's AI Business Division before moving to become Head of the Financial AI Center at KB Financial Group. She is also actively involved in external activities for female IT talents, serving as Vice President of the IT Women Entrepreneurs Association, co-chair of the AI Future Forum, and director of the Korean Federation of Women in Science and Technology Associations.