KB Financial chief stresses using AI to bolster corporate value

KB Financial Group Chairman Yang Jong-hee speaks during a workshop at the KB Insurance training center in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, July 11. Courtesy of KB Financial Group

KB Financial Group Chairman Yang Jong-hee stressed the need to use artificial intelligence (AI) to bolster corporate values and turn what may appear to be a crisis into a new opportunity, the group said Monday.

Fundamental structural changes are central to the drive, particularly in areas encompassing customer-centric business practices. The goal is to meet the growing needs of the customers in tailored high-tech products and services developments.

Yang said the group and its affiliates should embrace a deeper customer-centric philosophy, rooted in the fundamentals of finance, qualities basic to maintaining expertise in the AI era.

KB said the new corporate strategy was outlined during the chair’s remarks at a workshop held from July 11 to 12 at a KB Insurance training center in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province.

About 270 executives from KB units attended the workshop. The strategies had four key agenda items: customers, efficiency, AI and inclusion.

The attendees shared opinions and developed a group-wide strategy for expanding key emerging customer groups, including seniors.

As for the efficiency drive, the group’s chief financial officer shared its corporate performance over the first six months of the year, followed by plans for the remainder of the year. Among them were growth strategies to bolster capital efficiency and cement the group's market leadership.

Heads of KB’s AI centers shared about the group’s use of AI. They exchanged plans to expand AI use further apply it to high-tech financial services. They also outlined recommendations for corporate management strategies. The group said it seeks to establish a culture whereby all employees use AI as a practical business assistant.

KB plans to expand AI-mediated financial services to include private bankers and relationship management services — areas targeting high net-worth clients.

KB Kookmin Bank, the group’s banking subsidiary, also launched an inclusive finance department, a sector dedicated to strategies and action plans for inclusive, sustainable growth.

“This workshop was meaningful because it underscored the need to spur structural innovation and AI transformation across the group subsidiaries,” the group said.