K bank improves efficiency through robotic process

K bank headquarters in central Seoul / Courtesy of K bank

By Anna J. Park

K bank announced Tuesday that it has raised its efficiency by adopting robotic process automation (RPA), an AI-based software system that saved 28,000 hours of work last year for the digital lender.

The internet-only bank explained that it began adopting the RPA system in the first half of 2022, and it is now engaged in the bank's 11 business departments. The RPA completed some 400,000 tasks during the last year, resulting in saving 28,000 hours of work, which is a reduction of 90 percent of the previous work hours required of human workers.

One area in which the RPA system excels is suspicious transaction reports (STRs), which are submitted to financial regulators whenever banks find reasonable grounds to suspect financial transactions of violating the law. The painstaking work had previously been carried out by several employees, but now the robotic software system is taking significant charge of the reporting process. The automatic system also contributes in the selection of K bank customers out of groups of people under a state-led credit recovery program.

K bank has strengthened its security as well, aiming to prevent any accidents surrounding the normal operation of the RPA system. Only a few employees are granted physical access to the main office that houses the system, which is operated 24 hours a day.

“With the adoption of the RPA system, employees can focus more on other work, as the automation system has resulted in a drastic decline in some of the work processes,” a K bank official said. “The RPA will be utilized in more diverse tasks throughout this year, aiming to improve the work environment and efficiency.”