BNK Financial accelerates AI transformation to reshape how employees work

BNK Financial Group is stepping up its AI transformation — known internally as AX — to get ahead of rapid shifts in the financial landscape and digital technology by fundamentally changing how its employees work.

The group said Wednesday it is moving beyond simply adopting AI tools and will pursue a group-wide AX strategy that enables employees to use AI in their daily work — from drafting documents and analyzing data to searching for information and collaborating — to lift productivity across the board.

In the second half of this year, all affiliates, including BNK Busan Bank, BNK Kyongnam Bank and BNK Capital, will join forces to build a shared generative AI platform for the group. By establishing a common AI infrastructure, BNK aims to cut redundant investment across subsidiaries and roll out AI services quickly and efficiently to strengthen its digital competitiveness.

The holding company, BNK Busan Bank, BNK Kyongnam Bank and BNK Capital will also introduce Microsoft 365 Copilot to create an environment where AI handles repetitive office tasks such as document drafting, meeting summaries and data analysis. BNK expects the move to free employees from routine work so they can focus on higher-value tasks such as customer consulting and financial service planning.

BNK Financial Group is also investing in organizational culture to build employees' AI capabilities. It ran the "Digital Innovation Challenge Hackathon," an open innovation program in 2025 that brought together employees and university students. In June, the program expanded into a hands-on AI hackathon using Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Foundry, uncovering a range of ideas and use cases for applying generative AI to real work.

BNK has participated as a problem-proposing institution in the Busan city big data hackathon for three consecutive years from 2024 through 2026, contributing to the development of the local AI ecosystem. The group also plans to establish an "AX Promotion Unit" under its AI and digital strategy division at the holding company level to oversee all AI projects across the group and drive AI-based work innovation through inter-affiliate collaboration.

"AI is not about adopting new technology — it is the beginning of a change in how our employees work," a BNK official said. "We will spread an AI-driven work culture throughout the group to raise productivity, and use the time we gain from that to focus even more on delivering value to our customers."