Lee Jae-keun, president of KB Kookmin Bank, presented the management direction to overcome hardships and make a leap forward in 2023.
“Based on basics and principles, we have to work like a springboard to promote KB Kookmin Bank’s greater leap forward by strengthening our stamina to withstand difficulties and developing our ability to drive future growth,” Lee said in his New Year’s message on Jan. 2.
Lee cited strengthening the bank’s competitiveness at customer contact points, sharpening its fundamental business competitiveness, advancing its management system and establishing a future-oriented corporate culture as KB Kookmin Bank’s major goals for 2023.
First of all, Lee explained about sharpening competitiveness at customer contact points to provide the best customer experience.
A big strength of KB Kookmin Bank lies in the KB Star Banking financial platform, which customers can use according to their circumstances and branches with professional financial counselors all over the country, Lee said.
“In 2023, we will continue to strive to boost our customer contact point competitiveness so that KB Kookmin Bank can be easily used anytime, anywhere, quickly and safely, significantly widening its gap with competitors,” Lee said.
To this end, KB Kookmin Bank should continue to expand the service capabilities of KB’s platforms, such as Star Banking, Liiv Next, KB Wallet, and KB Real Estate, and actively engage in partnerships and investments with other industries, Lee stressed.
KB Kookmin Bank should be able to take the lead in providing differentiated customer value by expanding ‘9To6 Bank’, which received good responses by customers and steadily expanding innovative customer contact points through mobile video consultation services, Lee added.
Second, Lee focused on efforts to strengthen fundamental business competitiveness.
“For a long time, the basis of a strategy is to maintain strengths, compensate for weaknesses and continue to invest in the future,” Lee said. “I believe that we must stick to the basic principles of this strategy to ensure KB’s solid growth even in the face of uncertainty.
“Therefore, in order to maintain our solid position in personal finance and corporate finance, which are KB Kookmin Bank’s major profit generators, KB employees have to pump up their efforts to close communications between branches and headquarters and expand sales power in the field by maintaining sales power for “Fast Start” according to Lee.
KB Kookmin Bank struggled in the Capital Market, CIB, and WM Divisions last year.
Lee called on employees in the Capital Market, CIB, and WM Divisions to take pride in being the core growth drivers that lead KB’s growth and find new breakthroughs by strengthening cooperation with KB Financial Group affiliates, targeting new growth industries and emerging asset market, and carrying out outbound marketing.
The third theme is the advancement of the business management system for sustainable growth, Lee said.
“Business environments with complex crises facing us today, such as war, chaos in global supply chains, the climate crisis and the spread of COVID-19, requires a more flexible and efficient business management system.”
Lee said that in order to be able to quickly respond to changes in a market with high volatility, the advancement of crisis management and risk management systems has become a necessity, not an option.
The stable management of a bank’s capital and smart cost-cutting efforts are emerging as very important business management activities, according to Lee.
Finally, Lee cited the fourth point - establishing a future-oriented corporate culture.
“Beyond the MZ generation, the Alpha Generation who can be called true digital natives is emerging and the ‘office big bang’ phenomenon, which means a revolution in the way of working through the COVID-19 pandemic, is on a gradual rise,” Lee said.
“The power of execution is what I emphasized when I took office as president of KB Kookmin Bank a year ago was,” Lee said.
“I believe that if KB leaders listen to the voices of customers and employees by adding communications to that power of execution, KB Kookmin Bank will be able to break through walls within the organization and strengthen communications.”