The year 2021 gave NongHyup Bank a difficult business environment due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.
“But the dedication of employees enabled NongHyup Bank to overcome the crisis and produce valuable results,” said Kwon Joon-hak, president of NongHyup Bank.
President Kwon, who will mark his second year in office in 2022, will focus on three keywords this year: Profitability, Digital and Global.
He also set a goal to grow NongHyup Bank to a super-innovative digital bank by utilizing digital capabilities.
NongHyup Bank posted 1,237.5 billion won in net income by the third quarter of last year. Even after accumulating a considerable amount of COVID-19 provisions, it grew more than 10 percent on-year.
Experts the bank to expect to rack up more than 1.5 trillion won in net profit in 2022.
NongHyup Bank also enhanced its basic financial strength with strong capital adequacy and soundness last year.
In addition, NongHyup Bank achieved remarkable results in all of its business areas, including obtaining the highest rating in a financial consumer protection evaluation, expanding financial support for ESG implementing companies and widening its global network by making a foray into London and Hong Kong.
“I set a customer-centered “super-innovative digital bank” as our strategic goal for 2022,” he said. “I will spell out some key moves we need to make together through this New Year message for 2022.”
First of all, NongHyup Bank needs to strengthen the role of a profit center for agricultural cooperatives by securing a stable profit base, Kwon said.
“By adapting quickly to macroeconomic and financial environmental changes and overcoming fierce market competition, we must fulfill our mission as a revenue center for agriculture and farming areas,” he added.
“To this end, risk management should be preemptively strengthened to prevent business foundations from being shaken by uncertainties in the financial environment. In addition, we need to enhance corporate financial competitiveness in preparation for the government’s tighter household debt management.”
The second point was about accelerating digital transformation through innovation.
“The financial industry is rapidly changing due to big tech companies’ entries into various financial businesses,” Kwon said.
“We should also speed up digital transformation by changing our corporate culture and the mindsets of our employees.”
“Most of all, we need to cultivate the ability to read, interpret, and utilize various data,” Kwon continued.
“We also need to establish a system in which our entire organization can make data-based decisions and introduce new and innovative technologies such as AI and the metaverse.”
Third, Kwon believes that NongHyup Bank take the initiative in ESG management by specializing in agricultural finance.
“ESG management for future generations is growing in importance all over the world,” he underscored.
“NongHyup Bank intends to spread a green ecosystem in the agricultural and agrofood sectors by becoming more faithful to playing its original roles.”
“For sustainable future agriculture, we will strengthen customized support systems for customer demand,” Kwon continued.
“By expanding support for smart farms through consulting, we will spread eco-friendly and low-carbon farms nationwide to play our roles as a bank representing agricultural finance.”
Kwon called on NongHyup Bank employees to implement a differentiation strategy so the bank will be able to take advantage of its rich know-how to gain the upper hand in competition with other banks.
“By upgrading our computer infrastructure, we need to respond timely to rapidly changing public financial business paradigms and build a strong system among branches, sales and central headquarters, and manage branches in detail,” he explained.
“On top of that, we will actively participate in government cooperation projects such as local currencies to help the marginalized in our society.”
Finally, Kwon emphasized that NongHyup Bank should grow with customers.
“Good companies are good not only at making money but at fulfilling its responsibilities,” he said.
“The era has come when companies respected and supported by members of society grow and prosper for a long time. NongHyup Bank should make a fresh new start as a customer-centered bank that increases customer satisfaction and earn more trust from customers.”
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