"Banks Throwing Money Parties with Interest Income: 'Get an Extra 400 Million Won if You Take Voluntary Retirement'"

Over the past five years, major banks have paid more than 6.5 trillion won in additional money on top of the legally mandated severance pay to employees who opted for voluntary retirement.

On the 19th, the headquarters of Korea Citibank in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Cheon Jun-ho, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, 14 banks operating domestically have paid a total of 6.5422 trillion won in voluntary retirement benefits from 2019 through last August. During this period, 16,236 employees took voluntary retirement from these banks, receiving an average of 402.94 million won per person in voluntary retirement benefits. Except for Hana Bank, the other 13 banks have not implemented voluntary retirement this year, so these statistics effectively represent a five-year period.

Voluntary retirement benefits refer to additional payments made beyond the statutory severance pay, typically including special retirement bonuses, children’s tuition fees, and reemployment support funds. Some banks also provided health check-up expenses, medical costs, and gift certificates.

The bank that paid the highest voluntary retirement benefits was Korea Citibank. In 2021 alone, it accepted 2,130 voluntary retirements and paid 1.2794 trillion won in voluntary retirement benefits. The average voluntary retirement benefit per person was also the highest at 606.8 million won. Some employees received voluntary retirement benefits approaching 770 million won. KB Kookmin Bank accepted voluntary retirements every year from 2019 to last year, paying 1.2467 trillion won to 3,323 employees. The average per person was 375.19 million won, which was mid-range among the 14 banks. Shinhan Bank paid 672.7 billion won to 1,954 employees (344.29 million won per person), Hana Bank paid 851.8 billion won to 2,454 employees (347.09 million won per person), and Woori Bank paid 807.8 billion won to 1,940 employees (416.40 million won per person).

Regional banks also paid voluntary retirement benefits that were comparable to or higher than those of major commercial banks. iM Bank paid 151.2 billion won to 326 employees from 2019 to last year, with an average of 463.91 million won per person. Busan Bank paid 157.3 billion won to 381 employees (412.96 million won per person), and Jeonbuk Bank paid 35.5 billion won to 88 employees (403.85 million won per person).