November 24, 2024

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The electronic board at the Korea Exchange shows KakaoBank's debut on the stock exchange on Aug. 6, 2021. (KakaoBank)

Employees at South Korean mobile lender Kakao Bank have higher productively than their peers at the country’s four banking giants, data showed Friday.

A Kakao Bank employee was estimated to have earned 349 million won ($280,000), higher than the average figures for Hana Bank and Shinhan Bank, at 315 million won and 271 million won, respectively. Worker productivity of the other two giants -- KB Kookmin Bank and Woori bank -- on average was 245 million won and 229 million won, respectively, according to data compiled by each bank.

Kakao Bank saw employee productivity jump 63 percent on-year, while the yearly increase stood at 16.7 percent on average for the four banking giants.

Kakao Bank employees also showed the highest return on investment made for themselves. Their average score was 2.8 points, higher than the 2.5 points that the four banking rivals achieved on average.

The mobile banking arm of platform giant Kakao has seen significant improvement in the area compared to its rivals. In 2019, Kakao Bank scored only 1.2 points, when its four rivals scored 2.4 points on average.

Kakao Bank’s growing operating profits are believed to have raised its productivity levels. Its operating profit was 256 billion won last year, up 110 percent from the previous year.

“Not only does Kakao Bank see fewer costs involving the workforce than its rivals, which run branches nationwide, but the online bank benefited from soaring demand for contactless banking services amid the pandemic,” a source with knowledge of the matter said.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)