KB Kookmin Bank Celebrates Children’s Day With Innovative Initiatives

KB Kookmin Bank has made significant strides in promoting child welfare and financial innovation as it celebrated Children’s Day on May 5, 2025. The event, attended by Yang Jong-hee, Chairman of KB Financial Group, and Lee Hwan-joo, CEO of KB Kookmin Bank, took place at the bank's Yeouido Main Branch. The celebration aimed to support the healthy growth of children in the workplace, particularly those attending the bank's workplace daycare centers.

During the event, 93 children aged 3 to 5 were invited to enjoy a performance of the popular children's musical, 'Who Pooped on My Head?' Along with the show, the young guests were treated to balloon art and snacks tailored to their interests. Additionally, 173 children of employees received special Children’s Day gifts, including customized cookie sets and 'KB Star Friends' character dolls. Both Yang and Lee personally distributed the gifts and shared encouraging words for the children’s healthy development.

KB Financial Group is committed to creating a family-friendly corporate culture, aiming to address the low birth rate crisis in South Korea. "Our goal is to create a workplace that is conducive to raising children, ensuring that work and family can coexist," a representative from KB Financial stated. The bank has implemented various supportive measures to foster this environment.

One of the notable initiatives is the 'Re-employment after Childcare Leave' system introduced by KB Kookmin Bank in 2024. This program allows employees to focus on childcare for up to five years, including two years of childcare leave, with the opportunity for re-employment after three years of leave. Since its implementation, 68 employees have utilized this system, including 45 in its first year and 23 in the subsequent year.

In addition to this, KB Securities has introduced a leave system allowing employees experiencing infertility to take up to one year off. KB Insurance is also contributing by providing a childcare support fund, offering up to 100 million won for childcare expenses to employees facing challenges due to rare diseases, uncurable conditions, or developmental disabilities after childbirth.

Meanwhile, Lee Hwan-joo, who marked 100 days in office on April 11, 2025, has successfully led a performance turnaround at KB Kookmin Bank. The bank reported a net profit of 1 trillion 26.4 billion won in the first quarter of 2025, a remarkable increase of 636.9 billion won (163.5%) from the previous year. This surge in profit is attributed to the easing of burdens from past financial incidents and an increase in core deposits from household and corporate lending.

As KB Kookmin Bank aims to reclaim its position as the leading bank, Lee emphasized the importance of restoring trust following last year's setbacks, including the Hong Kong H Index ELS incident. In his inaugural address, he stated, "We must evolve from being a bank that sells financial products to a bank that sells trust to our customers and society." He aims to foster strong relationships akin to a 'KB Fan Club' to enhance the bank's value.

To bolster internal controls, Lee has restructured the audit organization and established a compliance management department. The bank plans to focus on strengthening internal controls in high-risk areas, such as corporate lending and wealth management, while enhancing its abnormal transaction detection system.

In addition to its initiatives for child welfare and trust restoration, KB Kookmin Bank is also leading in digital financial innovation. The bank has been working on establishing 'AI Governance' since 2022, aimed at ensuring the reliability and transparency of AI services while fulfilling ethical and legal responsibilities. This governance framework consists of four core elements: AI ethics standards, a risk assessment framework, lifecycle risk management policies, and financial consumer protection.

The AI ethics standards outline basic principles for all employees to ensure the safe and reliable adoption of AI. Regular education on these standards is mandatory, with specific training for AI developers to emphasize ethical responsibilities. The risk assessment framework categorizes AI services into four risk levels: unpermitted, high-risk, medium-risk, and low-risk, with stringent management measures for high-risk services.

KB Kookmin Bank has implemented a comprehensive risk management process that spans the entire lifecycle of AI services, from planning to post-management. This includes regular reviews of risk factors, data reliability checks, model performance evaluations, and continuous monitoring to ensure safe and ethical AI service delivery.

Furthermore, the bank has established an 'AI Ethics Committee' to oversee the implementation of AI governance, approving high-risk services and developing ethical standards and risk management policies. The committee aims to create a model case of ethical AI use that leads financial innovation.

KB Kookmin Bank is also leveraging AI technology to enhance internal efficiency. The bank has deployed its self-developed AI technologies, such as 'KB AI-OCR' and 'KB-STA,' across various business areas. KB AI-OCR, an optical character recognition tool, is being utilized in 20 service areas, including household lending and foreign exchange operations. This technology not only increases internal efficiency but also enhances customer convenience through services like account photo transfers in the bank's mobile application.

In addition, KB-STA, a text analysis processing technology, specializes in analyzing unstructured data and financial terminology, contributing to systems for interest rate and exchange rate predictions. The bank also utilizes this technology in chatbots to better understand customer inquiries.

With a focus on trust, innovation, and child welfare, KB Kookmin Bank is poised to make a significant impact in the financial sector this year. Lee Hwan-joo's leadership is expected to reshape the bank's future, potentially altering the landscape of the banking industry.