"Capturing the 400 Trillion Market" Byun Woo-seok and IU Appear... Banks Compete to Attract Retirement Pensions [Practical Financial Planning]

As the physical transfer system for retirement pensions, worth 400 trillion won, is fully implemented, a marketing battle is underway among major financial sectors such as banks and securities companies. On one hand, some are conducting 'star marketing' by mobilizing top-tier stars, while on the other hand, some are focusing on providing benefits such as gifticons and gift certificates.

Actors Byeon Woo-seok (from the left), singer and actor IU. NH Nonghyup Bank · Woori Bank

According to the financial sector on the 27th, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup Banks each released advertisements featuring their group advertising models An Yujin, IU, and Byun Wooseok around the time of the implementation of the retirement pension physical transfer system.

Hana Bank unveiled the advertisement "Retirement Pension, IRP is Hana Bank" on the 2nd of last month, starring An Yujin, a member of the group IVE, who is the group's advertising model. The bank explained that they expressed Hana Bank's friendly image as the "No.1 pension-specialized bank" leading the retirement pension market in a unique way through An Yujin. In particular, the advertisement included a melody based on 8-bit game sounds, which is familiar to one of the main customer groups of the retirement pension market, people in their 30s and 40s.

Woori Bank also released the advertisement "Retirement Pension A to Z, Woori Pension Friends," introducing Woori Pension Friends and starring IU on the 13th of last month. So far, this advertisement video has recorded 3.1 million views on YouTube. The follow-up advertisement "Woori Pension Friends Moving Edition," also starring IU, has 2.57 million views.

NH Nonghyup Bank launched the retirement pension advertisement "Confident 55+ Nonghyup Bank Retirement Pension," starring actor Byun Wooseok, on the 4th through social media (SNS), theaters, radio, and other channels. The message conveyed was that even after the retirement pension receipt age of 55, the confident choice for a secure lifelong life is Nonghyup Bank's retirement pension. This advertisement currently has 6 million views on YouTube. Additionally, Shinhan Bank released a retirement pension advertisement featuring singer Yoon Jongshin and actor Lee Jeongha in September, and KB Kookmin Bank unveiled print advertisements starring actress Park Eunbin in August.

Providing benefits such as prizes is also one of the main marketing methods. KB Kookmin Bank is conducting a marketing campaign that gives a prize worth 10,000 won to all customers who transfer their retirement pension DC or IRP by December 20. IBK Industrial Bank also offers prizes including an IRP contribution support fund of 10,000 won and gift certificates worth 20,000 won to customers who accumulate a certain amount in their retirement pension through the event "Up to 20,000 won Easily, IBK IRP." Securities companies generally run similar prize events until the end of the year.

However, there are cases where this leads to overheated competition. For example, Samsung Securities and Mirae Asset Securities recently held events offering gift certificates worth up to 1.03 million won and 730,000 won respectively when transferring both pension savings and IRP simultaneously and depositing retirement funds, but these events were discontinued. This was based on the fact that the special benefit limit for IRP is 30,000 won, but there is no limit for pension savings.

The Financial Supervisory Service recently issued a warning to the securities industry to refrain from such marketing battles. Even if securities companies comply with the limit on IRP account transfers, they may induce IRP subscriptions by increasing benefits for pension savings products, which have no limit. A financial sector official said, "As the year-end, when voluntary retirement is concentrated, approaches, competition related to this has become overheated."