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| KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo |
By Park Jae-hyuk
KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo became the nation's first financial group CEO to visit the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), according to industry officials, Monday.
The banking group said its chairman flew to Las Vegas, Monday, to attend the world's largest electronics fair that will be held from Tuesday to Friday.
He is accompanied by 17 employees from KB Kookmin Bank's IT group, KB Kookmin Card, KB Investment and KB Financial Group Research Institute.
Yoon, who is highly likely to try to serve another three-year term when his second term ends in November, will be looking for technology to bolster the group's long-term growth engines at CES 2020.
KB has already shown keen interest in integration between financial and digital technologies.
In 2019, it launched its budget phone service Liiv M, which will provide users with low-cost plans and convenient mobile banking services.
"The chairman has been interested in global IT firms and industry trends. He mentioned Google as one of the rivals to KB," a KB Financial Group spokesman said. "The latest visit will be an opportunity to build networks for future business."
Over the past few years, the nation's financial companies have sent their workers to the show, which is a globally famous event for tech firms to show off their latest products.
At the exhibition, they have witnessed new technologies for digital transformation, such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and internet of things (IoT).
Although KB is the only financial group sending its chief executive to the event this year, Shinhan and Woori financial groups are also seeking future growth engines there.
Shinhan said it sent 12 employees including Shinhan DS Vice President Cho Young-suh and Orange Life managing director Han Sang-wook to the CES this year to analyze changes in the global digital environment and discover technologies that can be applied to the financial sector.
It will also hold an event for fintech firms and smart cities there on Friday, so as to allow Korean startups to attract global investments.
Woori said it sent employees from its digital group to the trade fair.
Brokerages and accounting firms also decided to send their executives to this year's CES to learn about industry trends and look for investment opportunities.
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