Bank of Korea Falls Short of Regional Talent Hiring Goals... 60% of Employees Are 'SKY' Graduates

11.4% of Graduates from Regional Universities
Assemblyman Han Byung-do: "Institutional Effectiveness Must Be Enhanced Through Internal Regulation Improvements"

Since 2011, the Bank of Korea has been implementing the 'Regional Talent Recruitment Target System,' which aims to fill 20% of new hires with regional talents. However, it has been revealed that the bank has only met this target twice in 13 years.

According to the National Assembly audit data recently submitted to Assemblyman Han Byung-do of the Democratic Party (Planning and Finance Committee, Iksan City B, Jeonbuk) by the Bank of Korea on the 3rd, the bank aimed to select a total of 134 regional talents from 2011 to this year but actually selected only 93 (69.4%).

The Regional Talent Recruitment Target System requires that 20% of new employees (comprehensive planning staff, G5) be recruited from regional universities. If the initial successful candidates do not meet the regional talent target, up to an additional 10% can be selected. However, in the past 13 years, the target was only achieved twice, in 2015 and 2021.

As of September this year, among the Bank of Korea's comprehensive planning staff, only 189 (11.4%) were graduates of regional universities. Six out of ten were graduates of Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University, collectively known as ‘SKY,’ and if the category is expanded to include universities located in Seoul, the number reaches 1,436 (86.6%).

Additionally, starting from last year’s comprehensive planning staff recruitment, the Bank of Korea established a regional specialist division to select personnel for long-term service at regional headquarters, aiming to hire a total of seven people. However, it was confirmed that only two were actually hired.

Assemblyman Han stated, “It is regrettable that the system introduced to select outstanding regional talents and promote balanced personnel appointments is not consistently upheld annually,” and emphasized, “The Bank of Korea should devise measures to enhance the effectiveness of the system through improvements in internal regulations.”