KB Financial Group is about to experiment with its human resources policies, with the aim of exchanging personnel among affiliates. The move will take place around the end of this year when KB Investment and Securities and Hyundai Securities are to be merged to be a single investment and securities firm.
The personnel reshuffle is expected to create synergy among the group¡¯s affiliates and train financial experts in various areas of its operation, including banking, insurance and securities, among others.
The financial group said around 40 experts have been selected through an open process for various positions at its financial affiliates such as banks, securities, credit card, non-life insurance, life insurance, among others, to make this the initial year for the exchange system. It is the first time such a manpower exchange support channel will be built and run, officials of the group said.
Through the channel, any expert-level staff can be assigned to other positions in other affiliates to sharpen their professional skills. The personnel moves to other affiliates were made in the past, but not as systematically as this system, they said.
A special reimbursement system has been set up for those who are reassigned to other affiliates on the collective application system as a means to compensate them for certain challenges because of the move, the officials said.
They added that the biggest stumbling block in the personnel exchange among affiliates has been differing salary systems among the affiliates. Those who are reassigned will get a 10 percent raise in their salaries at the maximum in appreciation of their challenging moves.
Persons who want to return to their old positions after serving in their new positions with can do so, or they can remain at the new positions. The group will let them decide. The group will certainly want them to keep strengthening their experiences and assigning them to positions compatible with their management experiences.
Officials said the exchanges of personnel were made among affiliates involving wealth management, corporate investment banking and insurance, among others. But the group now has set up a system to manage personnel exchange as part of its personnel policies in such areas as non-face-to-face channels, data analyses, and others, totaling eight areas. The group intends to expand the exchange project based on requests from its affiliates for the creation of synergy in their operations.
Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo always emphasized the need for personnel exchanges for the creation of synergy among affiliates to boost productivity and improve personnel management by effectively reforming the high-salary personnel structure.
He would like to spur the exchange project to lower the walls dividing the affiliates so the group becomes more united to be ¡°one KB.¡±
The officers and staff are excited about the new policy. A section head who was transferred to KB Investment and Securities from KB Kookmin Bank said he wanted to brave the transfer to see if he can survive the new environment in the financial industry, at the same time as Fintech is lowering the walls dividing the financial industrial sectors, adding that the current personnel move will help both himself and the company.
The group has also decided to allow for a period of adjustment to any personnel who are transferred to other affiliates so they can adjust to their new surroundings and jobs. They will be given several weeks of training to learn about their new jobs and the company they work for.
A view of the building in Yeouido, Seoul, where KB financial group and its affiliates have offices.