[Exclusive] NH NongHyup Bank President Kang Taeyoung Holds Discussion on Next Year's Business Plan, Directly Gathering Employee Feedback

Last week, President Kang led business plan discussions
with over 200 employees, excluding executives
"Reflecting business through a bottom-up approach instead of top-down"
Digital transformation is outdated... Emphasizing AI responsiveness

Kang Taeyoung, President of NH NongHyup Bank, held a discussion meeting to directly gather feedback from employees of various ranks regarding next year's business plans. This bottom-up approach, which has never been attempted by previous bank presidents, demonstrates his commitment to reflecting the voices from the field without any filter. He emphasized, "Digital transformation (DX) is already an old story," adding, "From now on, we must be highly responsive to new trends such as AI transformation (AX: AI Transformation)."

According to the financial industry on September 24, President Kang presided over three discussion sessions last week at the Seoul headquarters, meeting with about 200 employees at the M-level (manager) and below to discuss next year's business plans. On September 15, he met with employees at levels 6 (entry-level and assistant manager) to 4 (deputy manager and manager); on September 16, with level 3 (branch managers and team leaders); and on September 19, with M-level (center heads, branch heads, department heads, and branch managers). The meetings focused on business plan discussions and ways to create synergy between departments and teams, with some sessions running beyond the scheduled two hours due to heated debates.

Kang Taeyoung, President of NongHyup Bank, held a discussion meeting last week with about 200 employees at the M-level and below regarding next year's business plans. NongHyup Bank

This series of discussion meetings was a clear departure from the bank's traditional approach to business planning. It was an unprecedented move within NongHyup Bank. Previously, the bank's comprehensive planning department in the management planning division would establish the plan and distribute it to each department in a top-down manner. However, President Kang arranged these meetings to "hear directly from employees," and the feedback collected will be reflected in the business plan by the comprehensive planning department. Notably, he did not hold separate meetings with vice presidents or other executives, signaling his intention to increase communication opportunities with regular employees, given that meetings with executives are already frequent.

President Kang identified three key areas that should be emphasized in next year's business: artificial intelligence (AI), corporate finance, and wealth management (WM). He particularly stressed that the bank must not fall behind the times when it comes to AI. A NongHyup Bank official said, "President Kang mentioned that 30 years ago, bank counter automation and, more recently, digital transformation were the trends of the times, but now these have already become stories of the past. He emphasized that as the paradigm shifts to AI, especially agent AI, we must not be late in adapting."

He also pointed out that, due to government regulations on household loans, the bank cannot actively pursue retail lending and that the role of corporate finance has become more important than ever. He urged employees to thoroughly prepare for next year's business, including foreign exchange operations. Regarding the WM business, he emphasized the need to strengthen comprehensive asset management capabilities, centering on the 'NH Royal Chamber,' which opened at the headquarters on September 16.