KB Financial to reorganize HQ staff

KB Financial Group will transfer about 10 percent of its human resources to its unit branches as part of its restructuring plan.

The banking group is expected to move 10-20 of its 120 employees to lower offices as early as this week, according to group officials Monday.

Even those who remain at the central headquarters will be partly allocated to newly established departments such as marketing strategy and digital financing, instead of filling the vacant seats with new employees, the officials added.

In line with the downsizing, KB Financial has already vowed to dispose of its headquarters building in central Seoul and move into the KB Kookmin Bank building in Yeouido.

The repositioning comes after new group chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo revealed plans to slim down the organization and enhance its banking sales.

Yoon, who was appointed the successor of the feud-ridden Lim Young-rok, decided to concurrently take on the post of KB Kookmin Bank president until the organization regained stability.

“(The overlapping role) may intensify the workload (of executives and employees) but I believe there are ways to solve the problem,” the chairman said, reiterating his will to minimize the organization’s size.

The purpose of such a policy was not just to reduce costs and boost operating efficiency, but mostly to remodel the entire group so as to place more focus on its banking performance.

“It is true that the holding company and the bank experienced conflicts in the past, but what matters most now is to restore KB Kookmin Bank as the nation’s leading bank,” Yoon said repeatedly after he took office.

KB Kookmin Bank is currently the top profit-making affiliate of the group. As of the end of last year, before the group took over LIG Insurance, up to 90 percent of the group’s yearly profits were made by its flagship bank.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)