Industrial Bank of Korea has reorganized its structure to strengthen its policy finance capabilities and advance its AI transformation, known internally as AX. The bank also overhauled its personnel system to expand decision-making authority at the field level and reinforce accountability.
The bank announced Wednesday that it had carried out its second-half 2026 organizational restructuring and regular personnel reshuffle.
As a key change, the bank established a new division dedicated to productive finance and inclusive finance. Investment-related departments will be reinforced with units focused exclusively on policy projects, allowing the bank to pursue policy finance more systematically.
Financial regulators plan to introduce a comprehensive evaluation system for banks' inclusive finance performance. Under the system, the existence of a dedicated division to execute inclusive finance strategy will be assessed as part of a governance review.
The bank is also pushing a company-wide AX transformation. Its existing digital group has been reorganized into an AX Strategy Group, which will serve as a control tower overseeing AI strategy development and execution. The bank also expanded and restructured relevant units to strengthen systematic data use and internal controls.
The bank reorganized to improve synergies across business lines as well. Within the CIB Group, previously scattered global investment functions have been consolidated into a newly created unit to sharpen business momentum and expertise.
A pension business headquarters has been placed within the asset management group to generate synergies among wealth management, trust and pension operations, with the aim of providing customers with integrated asset management tailored to each stage of their lives.
Bank President Jang Min-yeong centered the personnel reshuffle on realizing what the bank described as a "field-oriented accountability personnel system."
As part of that approach, the bank delegated personnel authority to banking groups and regional offices so that the organizations closest to the field can properly evaluate employees' performance and capabilities. Staff transfers at the team-leader level and below will be handled separately to better reflect frontline input.
The regular personnel reshuffle saw three new deputy presidents and 11 new division heads appointed. Jeong Eun-ji was named head of the Financial Consumer Protection Group, Lee Dong-un head of the AX Strategy Group, and Jeong Gwang-seok head of the Global Business Group.
The bank also plans to continue running internal open recruitment and fast-track promotions for branch manager positions targeting staff at the team-leader level and below, providing opportunities for employees who demonstrate the drive and ability to deliver results and injecting fresh energy into the organization.
hyuk@heraldcorp.com
