Bankers disappearing amid full-scale digitization

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By Anna J. Park

The number of bank branches in the country is decreasing swiftly due mainly to accelerated digitization of banking services, and consequently the number of bankers voluntarily leaving the country's five major banks during the first half of this year stood at over 2,600 ― around one third of the entire number of bankers who have left the industry over the past decade.

According to local banks, 2,628 employees of the five major banks ― KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH ― left their jobs voluntarily in the first half. It is almost double the number of bank employees who left during the entire period of last year.

About 30 percent were from KB Kookmin Bank, with 800 people leaving, followed by Hana Bank's 511, NH Bank's 496, Woori's 468 and Shinhan Bank's 353.

A KB Kookmin Bank official explained that one of the main reasons behind its high number is that the bank has the largest number of employees ― 16,349 as of March this year ― among the major local banks. Other major banks' staffs were smaller than KB Kookmin's number, with Woori Bank at 13,990 followed by NH Nonghyup at 13,669, Shinhan at 13,319 and Hana Bank at 11,485. The official also stressed that the number of employees who left did so of their own volition, without any exterior pressure to leave the firm.

As the official said, they are leaving voluntarily ― but there are reasons behind them leaving in droves.

The ever-growing number of voluntarily quitting bankers well reflects the current atmosphere of the industry, in which traditional long-term careers are threatened. The decreasing number of employees shows that traditional bankers, with experience of more than 15 years, are losing their ground and any possibility of a future at the banks.

The banking industry's swift transition towards full-scale digitization has led the five major local banks to turn their recruitment drives toward IT-related positions. Only NH Nonghyup Bank recruited a large number of new employees during the first half, while the other banks only brought in a small number of IT experts, hoping to strengthen their IT platform capacities.

While the banks are centering more and more around digital services, the number of bank branches nationwide is also rapidly decreasing. The aggregate number of branches of the five banks stood at 4,398, a fall of 191 branches or about a 4 percent decrease from the previous year when the number of bank branches was at 4,589. Banks plan to close down more than 100 branches later this year as well.