KB pledges to become purpose-driven company

KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo speaks during the group's H2 strategy meeting held at a Seoul hotel on Friday. (KB Financial Group )

South Korean financial giant KB Financial Group hopes to become a company that can have a good influence on the community, its chairman said Friday.

“We will all make efforts to become a purpose-driven firm that has a positive influence on the community,” Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo said at the group’s strategy meeting held at a Seoul hotel under the title "Toward the Future.”

The meeting was held to discuss management strategies for the latter half of 2023 to seek changes to adapt to the uncertainties of the future.

"In the coming future, KB should be a financial group that offers satisfaction and happiness for its customers," Yoon said.

The meeting invited experts to discuss mid and long-term management strategies, while board members made a presentation on operational strategies.

At the event, the group pinpointed three factors to influence future trends in the financial sector -- customers, artificial intelligence, and environmental, social, and corporate governance.

Meanwhile, KB also invited Andrew Ng, an adjunct professor at Stanford University, to deliver a lecture on how the financial sector should respond to changes in AI technology.

"At a time when AI, mobile and digital solutions have become mainstream, KB has to create value based on the renovation of traditional capabilities and assets," Yoon said. "We should work to become a firm (in which) humans and AI can cooperate, instilling values that only humans have in an era of AI."