Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
Major banks shrink entry-level hiring amid AI shift
Job seekers are seen at a job fair for the financial sector at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Aug. 19. Yonhap
By Lee Hyo-jin
Korea's major banks are hiring fewer entry-level employees as they expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and continue to close branches, making the job market tougher for young people seeking careers in finance, industry officials said Wednesday.
The banks have recently begun their open recruitment for the second half of the year.
Woori Bank is accepting applications through Aug. 8. While it has not disclosed how many people it plans to hire, the bank is expected to recruit fewer than 100 new employees, down sharply from the 190 it hired in the second half of last year.
KB Kookmin Bank is taking applications for about 160 entry-level positions through Sept. 9, while the Industrial Bank of Korea plans to hire 175 new employees, with applications open through Sept. 14.
Other major banks are expected to announce their hiring plans soon, but industry officials say the overall number of positions is unlikely to increase.
The trend is already evident in figures shown in the first half of this year.
The country's four major banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori — hired a combined 510 new employees in the first half, down 14.3 percent from a year earlier. Their annual recruitment also fell to 1,170 in 2023 from 1,320 in 2022.
Industry officials say the decline in hiring numbers reflects a broader shift in the way banks manage their workforces. Rather than expanding the number of employees, banks are increasingly focusing on keeping their organizations leaner and raising productivity.
Financial groups are stepping up their AI operations as they bring the technology into a wider range of banking functions, from business planning to credit assessments.
"Banks used to hire large numbers of entry-level employees and focus on placing them in branches. But as the shift toward AI accelerates and mobile banking becomes more widespread, companies are increasingly looking for people with specialized skills in digital fields," a banking industry official said.
The shift is also attributable to the steady decline in the number of bank branches as more customers turn to non-face-to-face services.
According to the Korea Federation of Banks, the four major banks had a combined 2,696 branches nationwide as of the second quarter this year, down from 2,868 in the second quarter of 2023.
Such a trend can be challenging for young job seekers as banks remain among the most sought-after companies, valued for their stability and relatively high pay.
A survey of 1,811 college students conducted by recruitment platform Incruit in June found that 34.5 percent chose banks as their preferred type of financial institution, making them the most popular choice. Toss Bank was the most preferred bank, followed by KB Kookmin Bank, KakaoBank and Shinhan Bank.