[1mm Financial Talk] "Secure Them in College" Regional Banks Compete for AI Talent

JB Financial Launches AI Competition for University Students
BNK and iM Financial Already Running Similar Programs
Existing Developers Strongly Prefer Seoul... "Securing Talent Before Employment"
Major Banks Establish In-House Talent Develo

The competition among banks to secure talent for AI transformation (AX) is intensifying. In particular, regional financial institutions are making efforts to secure talent in advance by organizing competitions for university students.

According to the financial sector on December 15, JB Financial Group recently announced a tender for the "JB Financial AI Competition." It is reported that JB Financial Group is attempting an AI-related contest for the first time. The competition is expected to invite university and graduate students to propose AI-based solutions for the key businesses promoted by JB Financial Group. The contest will be divided into two tracks: one focusing on technical excellence and another focusing on business ideas. JB Financial Group stated that the purpose of the event is "to discover outstanding talent in the AI field and to build a talent pipeline."

Looking at other examples among regional financial institutions, JB Financial Group is also seen as attempting to secure outstanding talent in advance by offering benefits such as preferential treatment in recruitment to winning teams. A representative case of this strategy is iM Financial Group. iM Financial runs a digital talent development program called "iM Ready, iM Challenger." Sponsored by the Financial Supervisory Service, Google, Microsoft (MS), Amazon Web Services (AWS), and the Korean Patent Attorneys Association, this program consists of preliminary rounds, finals, and a final round competition. Teams that advance to the final round receive a month of specialized training in AI, cloud, and big data, and then conduct a three-month research project with iM Financial IT professionals. All finalists are granted exemptions from the document screening and written test stages when applying for positions at iM Financial Group affiliates (such as iM Bank and iM Securities). In addition, prize money (including 10 million won for the grand prize) and opportunities to visit the headquarters of global big tech companies in the United States are awarded to the grand prize, excellence, and merit award teams.

Existing IT and AI developers tend to prefer the Seoul metropolitan area, particularly Gangnam in Seoul and Pangyo in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. According to the "Wanted Developer Report" released by HR tech company Wantedlab in 2023, 65.4% of developers surveyed chose Gangnam over Pangyo as their preferred workplace. Pangyo is included as an option because it is home to many IT companies, resulting in a high proportion of developers living there. In the industry, it is often said that developers are reluctant to commute beyond Gangnam Station to other areas if working in Seoul. Considering these tendencies, regional financial institutions have determined that it is more efficient to secure untapped talent early by offering various incentives and benefits, rather than targeting experienced developers.

Commercial banks operating mainly in the Seoul metropolitan area are ahead of regional financial institutions in not only organizing AI-related competitions but also running specialized talent development programs. KB Kookmin Bank has held the "IT's Your Life Hackathon" annually since 2022, providing young people with education in software and AI, and allowing graduates to participate in financial IT projects. All winning teams receive certificates and prize money. Shinhan Bank has also been operating a recruitment-linked program since 2023. Teams that pass the proposal review among trainees of the Samsung Youth SW·AI Academy participate in the competition, and participants receive mentoring from current developers to directly implement new services for Shinhan Bank's university student mobile platform, "Hey Young Campus." Shinhan Bank awards certificates and prizes to all winning teams and provides benefits such as exemptions from the first interview and document screening in digital and ICT recruitment processes.

Woori Financial Group is directly nurturing financial sector-specific talent through its affiliates. Since 2023, its IT solutions subsidiary Woori FIS has been operating the "FIS Academy." The training program consists of three tracks: cloud service development, AI engineering, and cloud engineering, and is conducted over a total of 960 hours. Participants receive mentoring from current experts, carry out projects using real financial data, and are given preferential treatment in affiliate recruitment. NH Nonghyup Bank also held the "NH AI Idea Challenge," an AI-related idea contest, this year.

The competition to secure AI talent in the financial sector is expected to become even fiercer. Shinhan Bank established a dedicated agile organization for AI by recruiting AI majors and other specialists in its hiring process in the second half of this year. Kookmin Bank, in line with its goal set in 2018 to increase its digital workforce by 4,000 by 2025, is separately recruiting for IT and platform development positions. Hana Financial Group has announced plans to expand its in-house data specialist workforce to 3,000 by 2027.