Banks send more employees abroad to expand global presence

A composite image of the logos of the five major commerical banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup / Yonhap

Major commercial banks in Korea are sending more employees abroad as they step up efforts to expand into the global market, data showed Sunday.

The data, compiled by the country’s five largest private banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup — showed that a total of 2,559 Korean employees from these five companies were working at overseas branches at the end of the first half of 2024.

The number of employees who were assigned abroad steadily went up over the years. For instance, it went up 7.8 percent from the first six months in 2023, and 33.1 percent from the same time period in 2019.

“Such increase suggests banks are sparing no efforts to boost presence on the international stage,” a bank public relations staff member said.

The staff member noted that global operations mainly focused on Southeast Asia but are expanding to India, North America and the rest of the world.

The staff member also noted that these five lenders have been reducing the number of employees in domestic operations in line with accelerated digitalization.

By companies, Shinhan Bank had the highest number of expatriate employees at 817 at the end of the first half of 2024, which went up 4.3 percent from a year earlier.

Hana Bank had 738 employees with a 6.6 percent year-on-year increase, while Woori Bank reported 573 employees with a 7.1 percent year-on-year increase.

The year-on-year increase rate remained the same at 9.5 percent for KB Kookmin Bank, which had 304 employees; and NH NongHyup Bank, which had 127 employees.

Industry sources assessed that the banks’ overseas operations are resulting in a “concrete outcome,” noting their earnings at the end of the first half of 2024 surged 37.4 percent year-on-year to 8.88 trillion won at the end of the first half of 2024.

“It is anticipated that the annual earnings for the entire 2024 will be around 20 trillion won,” a source said.