KB vs. Shinhan: AI puts Korea's top financial groups on a collision course
Two giants are redrawing their playbooks. KB Financial wants to defend the No. 1 spot. Shinhan Financial wants it back. Both are reorganizing around AI in a market defined by low growth and tighter scrutiny. Expect execution - not announcements - to decide the scoreboard.
KB Financial: centralizing strategy, scaling AI
KB created a future strategy division that fuses group-wide strategy, synergy, and ESG with AI, data, and digital innovation. It's a structural signal: AI moves from side projects to the core operating model.
At a management workshop themed "Transition and Expansion," Chairman Yang Jong-hee set the tone: "All executives and employees must evolve into strategists and innovators who lead change by leveraging AI as a strategic asset to accelerate the transformation of business models and work practices, while expanding into new markets and customer segments."
Leaders also dug into the boundary between science and technology in the AI era, why storytelling still matters, and how precise communication reduces risk in AI-augmented workflows. Yang's New Year message was blunt: AI will reshape financial markets, and the sector is facing a paradigm shift at national and societal levels.
Shinhan Financial: tightening execution to reclaim the top spot
After ceding leadership to KB in 2023, Shinhan ran a three-day strategy conference with about 250 leaders - longer than prior years - to confront misses and commit to sharper execution. Chairman Jin Ok-dong led the entire session without a moderator, pushing for independent thinking and full accountability.
Jin has named AI a central priority for the next three years: leaders must assess AI's impact, define the issues to solve, and map the likely market structure. His stance is clear: prepare early; durable success comes from becoming a company that earns lasting trust.
Shinhan also set up a future innovation group to drive firm-wide change, with focus tracks in senior wealth management, growth among foreign customers, and stronger capabilities in digital assets.
What this means for bank executives
This isn't about pilots anymore. It's about rewiring how strategy is set, how risk is governed, and how value is measured. Here's the operating checklist leaders are using to separate signal from noise:
- Clarify the AI agenda: Name the 3-5 bets tied to P&L and risk outcomes. Kill vanity projects.
- Operating model: Stand up a central AI platform and data foundation, then deploy cross-functional squads in business lines to ship use cases on a predictable cadence.
- Data and MLOps: Standardize feature stores, testing, monitoring, and rollback. Treat latency, lineage, and reliability as first-class metrics.
- Model risk and compliance: Codify explainability, fairness, and human-in-the-loop controls. Reference frameworks such as MAS's Veritas initiative for responsible AI (MAS Veritas).
- Workforce and incentives: Upskill frontline teams and product owners; align bonuses to shipped, adopted AI use cases - not experiments. For structured options, see curated AI programs for finance (AI tools for finance).
- Growth vectors: Senior wealth, foreign customer ecosystems, and regulated digital asset services are in focus. Tie each to distinct acquisition and unit economics.
- Productivity targets: Set explicit goals (e.g., cost-to-serve, onboarding cycle time, KYC/AML case resolution) and audit them monthly.
- Build-partner-buy decisions: Don't overbuild. Keep core IP in-house; partner where speed matters; buy for commoditized components.
- Change management: Communicate decisions simply. Train managers to prevent misinterpretation as AI permeates workflows.
Signals to watch through 2026
- Share of group profit attributable to AI-enabled products and operations
- Time from use-case approval to production deployment and adoption
- % of high-frequency processes augmented by AI with auditable controls
- Growth in senior wealth AUM and foreign customer profitability
- Progress on digital asset capabilities within regulatory guardrails
KB and Shinhan are setting up a high-pressure test of focus and execution. The winner won't be the group with the most rhetoric. It will be the one that turns AI into measurable gains and earns trust along the way.
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