Woori Bank perceives social contribution and a deep-rooted culture of sharing to be the two pillars of its organization, according to officials.

Lee Soon-woo, president of the bank and chairman of Woori Financial Group, has repeatedly called for the local banking sector to make a contribution to society, saying that “banks have the obligation since they make a profit from their consumers.”

Based on this belief, the bank pursues humanity, happiness and hopefulness through its corporate social responsibility activities.

Its most noted CSR project is Woori Love Sharing, which connects the bank’s 30 regional headquarters and some 1,000 offices to the nation’s social welfare organizations.

Tied together by a lasting sisterhood relationship, the bank employees, along with professional social workers, pay regular visits to these welfare centers to offer their support.

The project is led by the Woori Bank Volunteer Group, which was created in 2007.

“Our volunteer activities used to be conducted by individual regional branches, but we have consolidated the volunteer groups for the sake of efficiency,” an official said.

What differentiates Woori Bank’s volunteering efforts from other organizations, according to the bank, is that employees make the effort to directly participate in the activities, rather than offering monetary donations.

Furthermore, employees donate a designated amount of their monthly pay to the various social welfare funds operated by the bank.

Customers, too, may take part in the bank’s social contribution campaigns through banking services downloaded to their smartphones. The total amount of such “smart” contributions reached 1.6 billion won ($1.6 million) by the end of last year, Woori Bank said.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)