Banks' dealing rooms become key marketing tool as KOSPI nears historic 5,000

Clockwise from top left, the electronic trading boards at the dealing rooms of the four major commercial banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori and Hana — show the benchmark KOSPI closing at 4,840.74 points, marking a closing high, Friday. Yonhap

Major commercial banks dealing rooms are becoming a key marketing tool as the benchmark KOSPI nears an unprecedented 5,000 points, according to industry officials, Sunday.

The dealing rooms are increasingly in the media spotlight as images capture the closing figures of the benchmark bourse, which has been on a winning streak since the start of 2026.

The upward trend has been especially notable as the index climbs step by step through each 100-point mark, hitting record closing highs along the way.

Against this backdrop, Korea’s four largest commercial banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori — are investing billions of won to renovate their dealing rooms in their Seoul headquarters.

They are also carefully selecting in-house staff to serve as models in front of electronic display boards.

“A KOSPI 5,000 era will be a historic moment that will be remembered in history,” a bank PR official said.

He went on to explain that promoting the dealing room is a “highly cost-effective marketing strategy,” adding, “When a bank’s logo appears alongside the KOSPI close, it naturally reinforces perceptions of the bank’s brand, together with busy trading floors and other symbolic images of market expertise.”

Among the four lenders, Hana Bank is stepping up efforts to consolidate its dominant image rooted in Korea Exchange Bank, which it merged with in the mid-2010s.

It boasts the country’s largest dealing room, Hana Infinity Seoul, which underwent renovation to expand to 2,097 square meters with 126 trading seats, serving as a frequent backdrop for market coverage.

This year, it reorganized its core business units, expanding and separating its foreign exchange operations into a dedicated division.

KB Kookmin Bank has likewise carried out a major renovation of its dealing room at its headquarters in Seoul’s financial district of Yeouido, investing approximately 8 billion won ($5.4 million) to upgrade equipment, communications infrastructure and foreign exchange platforms.

Shinhan Bank has completed the installation of a large electronic display on the first floor of its headquarters.

Although the dealing room is located on the second floor, the bank invested several billion won to place the display in the lobby, providing a larger screen and easier access for photojournalists.

To make up for the physical separation from the dealing room, bank staff acting as on-site models remain near the display from market open, allowing for swift photo coverage.

Woori Bank has revamped its dealing room by spending about 2 billion won.

It also installed a massive display in its lobby and operates an “open photo zone” accessible to the general public.

Along a panoramic display stretching roughly 48 meters through the lobby, visitors can view the KOSPI and secondary bourse Kosdaq indices, top market-cap stocks and major currency rates in ultrahigh resolution totaling 19,200 pixels.