Shinhan Bank is expanding recruitment of outside talent in artificial intelligence and digital transformation, known internally as AX, as it seeks to strengthen its AI capabilities. The bank has been bringing in engineers and executives with backgrounds at major technology companies including Samsung Electronics and SK.
On March 5, the financial industry said Shinhan Bank this month appointed Choi Cheol as head of its AX Digital division.
Choi previously led the SK AIX Convergence Group and the SK C&C Convergence Group. Shinhan Bank is said to have valued his expertise in areas including blockchain-based Web3, AI and the Internet of Things. The AX Innovation Unit where Choi works was created in the second half of last year and sits under the AX Innovation Group. Choi is expected to help lead companywide digital transformation strategy with AX Innovation Group head Choi Hyeok-jae.
Choi is not the only outside hire as the bank moves away from a tradition of promoting from within. Last year, Shin Young-pil, who previously worked at Samsung Electronics and NCSoft, was named head of the Tech Innovation Unit. In 2024, Lee Guk-hee, with experience at Amazon, Microsoft and KT Cloud, was hired as head of the Tech Innovation Team. Other Samsung Electronics alumni who have joined include Jin Young-gyu, head of the Customer Experience Innovation Center; Jeon Seong-ik, head of the Customer Platform division; and Kim Jun-hwan, a team leader at Shinhan Financial.
The hiring push is focused on strengthening competitiveness in the AX area as AI competition intensifies and banks race to secure capabilities in a fast-changing digital environment.
Shinhan Financial has said it aims to deliver hyper-personalized financial services through AI. In his New Year’s address, Chairman Jin said the industry is at a major turning point as technologies such as digital assets, Web3 wallets and agent AI expand, and he called for faster adoption of AI.
The group is actively introducing AI agents in customer management, wealth management, internal controls and credit screening. Departments are also developing their own AI agents for task-specific use, and the bank is testing what it calls the country’s first AI unmanned branch, the “Shinhan AI Branch.” Monthly active users of its financial platform rose from 21.3 million in 2023 to 24.67 million in the third quarter of last year, reflecting growth in non-face-to-face usage.
Industry officials say the bank has limits in building enough in-house specialists who can also meet regulatory requirements such as internal controls, prompting it to look outside. As digital transformation accelerates, banks are increasingly competing to recruit technology talent from big tech, analysts say.
A financial industry official said, “Beyond existing technology, there are still many areas we must pay closer attention to, including anti-money laundering (AML),” adding, “Digital assets are seen as a test case for judging the success or failure of financial companies’ recruitment of outside digital talent.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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