KB workers dispatched to KakaoBank refuse to return

A passer-by walks past KakaoBank's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, in this 2017 file photo. / Yonhap

Woori employees leave underperforming K bank

By Park Jae-hyuk

All 15 KB Financial Group employees sent to KakaoBank four years ago have refused to return to their previous workplace despite attractive incentives from their previous employer, according to industry officials, Tuesday.

In April 2016, KB sent 11 employees from KB Kookmin Bank, two from KB Kookmin Card and two from KB Data Systems to the new KakaoBank.

The financial group, which is the holding firm of KakaoBank's third-largest shareholder, KB Kookmin Bank, sent the workers to help the new digital bank begin operations successfully.

The 15 were then assured of a return to their original positions.

According to industry officials, KB, the nation's second-largest financial group by assets and profit, also offered them a 10 percent wage increase, promotion and deployment to their preferred branch.

But KakaoBank said the employees decided to stay at their current workplace.

Their decision is attributed to the internet-only bank's growth potential.

Last year, KakaoBank employees were collectively given 26 billion won ($22 million) in employee stock options and 25.5 billion won in employee stock ownership in the form of stock options.

The internet-only bank is also pushing ahead with an initial public offering in the second half.

“KakaoBank posted 2.6 billion won net income in the third quarter of 2019, down 15 percent from the previous quarter, but its operating profit jumped to 6.4 billion won,” Kiwoom Securities analyst Seo Young-soo said. “It is time to recognize KakaoBank as one of the major players in the market.”

In contrast, Woori Financial Group employees sent to K bank are opting to leave the internet-only bank as it faces a gloomy outlook.

In March 2016, Woori sent 22 employees from Woori Bank and four from Woori FIS to the new K bank. Woori Bank holds a 13.79 percent stake in the bank.

Among them, 16 returned to their original positions and two decided to leave both, as of December.

Eight Woori Bank employees chose to stay at K bank last March.

The staff exit is attributed to the financial difficulties K bank is suffering from.

The current Internet-only Bank Act prohibits antitrust law violator KT from becoming the largest shareholder of K bank, so the mobile carrier has been blocked from increasing the bank's capital.

Amid lingering capital shortages, K bank even stopped offering several loan products.

Although the online bank anticipated a revision of the Internet-only Bank Act last year, the National Assembly failed to reach an agreement.