Bank Products Difficult for All

Office worker Jo (33, female, Yeouido-dong, Seoul) recently visited a bank to make a new installment deposit, only to receive some stuffiness.

The bank clerk continually recommended only one product. “I asked for an explanation on the other products as well, but the clerk kept recommending one product, saying it was good.”

When Jo named a specific company fund and asked for an explanation, the clerk backed off, saying, “I don’t know the contents of that product very well.”

This is the result of a bank clerk trying to sell products without understanding them.

A bank clerk in Seoul Yeouido revealed, “It’s almost impossible to understand all the new products. I mainly introduce the two or three products that stand out the most in my mind.”

The issue of reaching the sales quota allotted to each clerk whenever a new product is introduced is another long-existing problem.

Bank clerks are said to be under enormous stress from studying the new financial products that come out almost every day.

In the case of Hana Bank, new staff must learn a total of 100 financial products through basic product education, supplementary education, and seminars for two years. Even after becoming an executive, product education is obligatory.

Head of Hana Bank’s Resource Development Department Gwon Sun-bak said, “They are under more stress because the existing products don’t disappear, and new products are continuously being developed.”

In the past, financial products were made with the bank given first consideration.

Shinhan Bank’s Product Development Department’s Section Chief Choi Jae-yeol said, “In the past, there was only one product, and it used to be, ‘If you want to join, do it, and if you don’t want to, don’t’. If we wanted to attract customers, we just raised the interest a little.”

However, nowadays, products made for customers are the general trend. Kookmin Bank’s “Brand women’s’ account,” which generated 750 billion won during one month on the market, is the representative case.

The competition to create new funds is fierce.

In the case of “salary transfer accounts,” which shook the banking world earlier this year, 10 such products such as the “Salaryman plan savings account,” “Salary account to become rich,” and the “CitiOne account” have followed.

If a theme generates interest, all banks put out similar products. If issues over Dokdo break out with Japan, Dokdo-related products are made, and if social contribution becomes an issue, social contribution loan products are designed.

The time it takes for rival banks to create a similar product has been lessened to only 1~ 2 weeks.

A source within a bank said, “Banks have always copied others’ products, and the mood is that no one says anything about it.”

jarrett@donga.com