Bank employees in S. Korea are predicted to leave en masse, opt for voluntary retirement this year

People working in banks in South Korea are predicted to leave their job posts this year. It was reported that most of them will go for voluntary retirement, and thousands will avail of this offer.

The banks are now offering attractive early retirement packages to reduce labor costs, and employees will take advantage of this. It was said that it is not just due to the lucrative compensations, but most of the staff in financial institutions are leaving due to digital transformation.

According to The Korea Herald, the banking industry in South Korea no longer guarantee job security like before since everything is being automated these days. With this, this business sector is seeing an early mass retirement of its workforce.

Banks today are working to accelerate the digitalization of their banking services, and this also means that banks are shifting to online operations, and this will result in less physical work in the offices. In the end, only a few people may be needed to run the business, and this is exactly why there is no job security for bank workers anymore.

It was reported that in the Seoul branch of Standard Chartered Bank, the company already received 500 applications for voluntary retirement, and this is equivalent to 12% of its total workforce. This is said to be the highest number of applicants for early retirement since 2015.

Standard Chartered Bank Korea seems to be hastening its structural reorganization for its digitalization. Hence, more people want to retire early before they lose their work in the near future. Moreover, the applications were said to have surged after Standard Chartered upgraded its payment term to a maximum of 60 months’ worth of salary.

The Korea Times mentioned that bank employees might also want an early retirement after seeing Citibank Korea shut down its retail banking unit. Many staff was affected, but the bank offered good compensation packages as the operations officially closed.

Meanwhile, KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, and Hana Bank are also said to have received from 300 up to 800 early retirement applications this year as operations slowly transition to digital.