Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo of KB Financial Group.(Photo:KB Financial Group)

KB Financial Group said recently that it has reformed its Smart Financial Service that can be applied to all of its affiliates, including Kookmin Bank, and named it as the Integrated Application Service for the Group (KB Financial App).

With the application, the prices of stocks and stock market information, other financial information and public notice materials will be provided via applications of the group’s affiliates such as Kookmin Bank, KB Kookmin Card, KB Life Insurance, KB Capital and KB Savings Bank, among others. They can be down loaded from “KB Store.” The mobile service of KB Non-Life Insurance Co. will also be accessible through the Integrated Application of the Group from the fourth quarter.

Officials said the Group Integrated Application will help the group and its affiliates to strengthen their communications with shareholders and provide integrated information and services on the group’s level as they continue to try to improve them.

The current reform has been made for Android smart phones and iPhones. Applications will be accessible as soon as Apple approves the service, they said.

Customers can download the new KB Financial Group application at Android Play by searching for “KB Financial.”

In the meantime, KB Financial announced that it will find Kookmin Bank bonds whose maturity periods are over and have not yet been paid back in month-long campaign kicked off Sept. 1.

The group figured that some 80 billion won worth of its bonds have not been redeemed, even though their maturities have long passed. The bonds can be repaid after 10 years from the dates of maturity and the interest won’t be paid after five years of the maturity dates.

Chairman and CEO Yoon Jong-kyoo of Kookmin Bank announced early this year that the bank will attempt to recover its public faith, have its management centered on people and expand its growth engines so that they improve public relations. The bank will at the same time keep trying to pursue its targets so that it becomes “a bank with success and hope.”

The bank went through a restructuring of its head office at the end of last year to secure a new organizational framework so that it continues to be a bank that can grow and cope with the changes of its customers’ needs and financial environment.

The bank now has 11 group headquarters, nine headquarters, 59 departments and one office; that’s down from17 headquarters, 58 departments and two offices, to be more customer-centered in operation and strengthen the core strength of the bank.

The bank attempted to boost the effectiveness of its operation by setting up 11 group headquarters so that it can be more customer-centered; branches and other outlets focus on customers and marketing with the support of the 11 group headquarters.

In order to strengthen the units dealing with future growth engines, the bank expanded units such as SME, SOHO, the retirement market, global operations, capital market and other strategic organizations. In short term, the bank decided to strengthen its retail sectors while such units dealing with SME, SOHO, WM and CIB. Marketable securities are to be strengthened later. To boost effectiveness of management and speedy decision making, the bank has merged the planning side of the bank’s setup, such as strategy and financial affairs, to make the realization of mid-term strategies and the CEO’s management philosophy come together more effectively.

Officials of the bank said the restructuring is centered around customers to recover public trust in the bank, and at the same time strengthen its competitive power.