Surpassing 10 million customers. The best first-half performance in history. This is the report card of K-Bank under the leadership of Choi Woo-hyung, who has been in office for nine months. The visible achievements in such a short period are attributed to Choi Woo-hyung's effective leadership.
Choi is well-known for his communication skills, but internally, he is recognized as a leader genuinely committed to self-development. Since officially taking office on January 1 this year, Choi has held monthly town hall meetings to communicate with employees, adding one more element: inviting external speakers to create a learning-oriented K-Bank. Notable speakers who have appeared at K-Bank include Choi In-ah, CEO of Choi In-ah Bookstore and the first female executive hired through Samsung Group’s public recruitment, and profiler Kwon Il-yong. They do not limit the topics to work-related fields but invite speakers who can provide insights on work attitudes and various perspectives. Reflecting Choi’s emphasis on communication, employee surveys are also considered in this process.
The employees’ response has been enthusiastic. Although attendance is not mandatory, many participate voluntarily, and employees often buy and read the speakers’ books before the lectures, showing great enthusiasm. It is said that the recent lecture by profiler Kwon Il-yong resembled a fan signing event.
The establishment of a learning culture at K-Bank was led by Choi’s exemplary behavior. He is known as a leader who enjoys studying. He often says, “There is an endless amount to learn in the world.” His background reflects this. After graduating from Seoul National University with a degree in economics and gaining experience in finance at Hana Bank, he expanded his expertise to IT by working at Samsung SDS, global strategy consulting firm Accenture, and IBM. Choi has profound knowledge in both finance and IT, and IT engineers reportedly feel nervous when presenting in front of him. He also actively participated in the recent renewal of the K-Bank application. According to research firm Consumer Insight, the K-Bank app ranked third in customer satisfaction, a remarkable improvement from 18th place before Choi’s appointment.
Choi sharpens employees’ focus with incisive questions but is more encouraging than reprimanding. Thanks to this, employee morale is high. This morale boost has translated into results. K-Bank selects the “K-Bank Team of the Year” twice annually, awarding a total prize of 100 million KRW. The popular “Growing Money Tree” service, which received great customer response, was born from this initiative.
These achievements are also reflected externally. K-Bank surpassed 10 million customers in February and currently has 12 million customers as of September. This milestone was reached much earlier than initially expected internally, surprising even the employees.
The performance is record-breaking. K-Bank posted a net profit of 85.4 billion KRW in the first half of this year, a 241.6% increase compared to the same period last year, marking the highest performance since its founding. At the end of Q2, K-Bank’s deposit balance was 21.85 trillion KRW, up 26% year-on-year. Loan balances increased 24%, from 12.67 trillion KRW to 15.67 trillion KRW during the same period, showing balanced growth in both deposits and loans. Although K-Bank recorded a loss in Q4 last year for the first time in 11 quarters, the trend has reversed this year. The bank has also reduced its dependence on Upbit, previously cited as a limitation, from the 10% range to the 1% range over the past three years.
While Choi Woo-hyung’s leadership continues to steer K-Bank smoothly, challenges remain. These include a successful initial public offering (IPO) and diversification of the retail-focused portfolio. Having failed once before, there is pressure to succeed this time. K-Bank is scheduled to go public on October 30. Another challenge is the business portfolio centered on individual customers, a known limitation of internet banks. To address this, K-Bank has taken a strategic move into the business loan market, considered a new growth area for internet banks.
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