"Receiving Tutoring for English Conferences"

Park Sun-oh, a public relations director of Kor Am Bank, learns English by working with an English officer two hours a week.

The reason for this is because once Citibank Korea officially opens, Park must be capable of holding a one-on-one conference via video or telephone with the U.S. main office public relations officer.

The bank’s private banking (PB) personnel, which manages the assets of wealthy clients, are also receiving training from a professional from Citibank Singapore’s Asian Pacific headquarters.

On October 1, Lee Gun-hong, branch manager of the Apgujeong branch of Royal Plaza, said, “We are receiving training in order to be able to grasp the customers’ investment dispositions and design financial plans through scientific methods.”

With Citibank Korea’s opening planned for November 1, Kor Am Bank and the Korean branch of Citibank are in a full-scale merging process.

The point of emphasis is the merging of quality human resources and services.

Ha Young-gu, the unofficially-decided Citibank Korea president, announced, “To maximize the synergy effect of the new bank, we need to accelerate the merging of human resources and systems.”

The personnel of the Asian Pacific headquarters of Kor Am Bank and Citibank have visited each other’s offices and have compared and researched each other’s unique system and goods.

The outline of the management staff, which will help and shape how bank President Ha runs the new bank, is starting to appear.

The unofficially-decided managers for the consumer business section and the corporate business section are Richard Jackson and Michael Jinks, both of whom are currently in charge of the respective sections in the Citibank Seoul branch.

Park Jin-hoi and Lee Yin-ho of Kor Am Bank will become the chief operating officer and compliance auditor.

When the merging process of the branches is completed at the end of this month, the new bank will become a financial corporation of 238 domestic branches and approximately 4,100 personnel, with assets amounting to 66 trillion won.

President Ha also added, “We will announce our long and short-term operation strategies and a new brand of merchandise as the new bank opens,” and added, “We will continue the merger even after the bank opens.”

The labor union of Kor Am Bank says there are problems with the merger lead by management.

A person related to the labor union said, “The naming of the new bank and the formation of the management personnel have been achieved without consideration of the employees’ opinions,” and continued, “We will voice our objections at the wages and group negotiations next month.”

Seung-Jin Kim Suk-Ho Shin sarafina@donga.com kyle@donga.com