Chmn. Yoon Jong-kyoo of KB Financial Group and KB Kookmin Bank delivers his congratulatory speech at the bank’s 14th anniversary ceremony of the merger with Korea Housing Bank.

"We ought to improve our structure step-by-step to catch up with the leading bank,” Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo of KB Kookmin Bank said recently a congratulatory speech marking the bank’s 14th anniversary on Nov. 2 since the merger with Korea Housing Bank. 

Since the merger took place, the bank has been reborn as KB Kookmin Bank.

During a ceremony to celebrate the occasion at the Yeouido head office in Seoul, he said the bank ought to have a long-term vision and work toward it steadily without being interrupted by other events in order to be a top bank in the country. They should always be conscious of the target, the chairman said.

He continued, saying that the goal of becoming the bank cannot be realized in one or two years, saying: “we ought to know and we have to lighten our weight and body structure lean so that we may have the speed and the endurance to close the gap with the rival banks.”

Chairman Yoon, who will observe his first year as the top manager of the financial group as well as the bank on Nov. 22, said the bank should always remember what Bill Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft, said, “we need financial services but not necessarily so.” He added that they “ought to always have what he truly meant in our minds as we are about to go through various changes to be brought on by the mobile financial services.”

He noted a number of tasks ahead for the bank if it is going to be successful in its goal of becoming a leading bank in the mobile financial service: a solid target and steadiness; a long-term vision; wider communication with sincerity; value and profit; a corporate culture; and an organization befitting a top bank. He said those goals should always be in the mind of the bank’s employees. 

“In order for us to recapture our top bank status, we ought to make a progress toward to becoming an open bank dedicated to the mission of pursuing the customers’ economic happiness and learning the lessons and sharing them with the customersas an open bank,” the chairman said.

A view of the head office of KB Kookmin Bank in Yeouido, Seoul.(Photos:KB Kookmin Bank)