[Edaily Reporter Kim Se-yeon ] Following the five major financial holding companies (KB Financial Group, ShinhanFinancialGroup Co.,Ltd., HanaFinancialGroupInc., WooriFinancialGroup, and NH Nonghyup) setting record-high net profits for the first half of the year, the average first-half salaries of their employees also rose across the board compared to last year. Notably, among the major financial holding companies, some saw the average monthly salary per employee exceed 20 million won.

According to the semi-annual reports of the five major financial holding companies disclosed on the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on the 18th, #KB Financial Group had the highest average salary per employee in the first half of this year at 121 million won. KB Financial Group’s average salary per employee for the first half of the year increased by 9 million won (8.0%) from 112 million won last year to 121 million won this year. When simply converted to a six-month period, this means each employee received an average monthly salary of over 20 million won.
WooriFinancialGroup(316140) HanaFinancialGroupInc.(086790), and WooriFinancialGroup also paid an average of over 100 million won per employee in the first half alone. The average salary per employee at WooriFinancialGroup was 110 million won, an increase of 5 million won from 105 million won in the first half of last year. Converted to a monthly average, this amounts to approximately 18.33 million won. At HanaFinancialGroupInc., the average salary per employee rose by 11 million won, from 95 million won in the first half of last year to 106 million won this year. This was the largest increase among the five major financial holding companies. Converted to a simple monthly average, this amounts to approximately 17.67 million won.
ShinhanFinancialGroup Co.,Ltd.(055550)The average salary per employee was 97 million won, an increase of 5 million won from the 92 million won recorded in the first half of last year. Nonghyup Financial Group saw an increase of 2 million won during the same period, rising from 68 million won to 70 million won.
As a result, all five major financial holding companies saw an increase in average compensation per employee compared to the first half of last year. When aggregating the average first-half compensation per employee across the five major financial holding companies, the figure stood at 100.8 million won, up approximately 6.4 million won (6.8%) from the average of 94.4 million won in the first half of last year.
However, it is difficult to equate the average compensation per employee at a financial holding company with the general concepts of a “monthly salary” or “annual salary.” The average compensation per employee reported in the semi-annual reports is calculated based on the total compensation paid to employees during the period, divided by the average number of employees, and includes not only base pay but also bonuses and performance-based pay. In particular, since the financial sector often reflects one-time compensation such as performance bonuses in the first half of the year, there are limitations to simply doubling the first-half compensation figure to estimate an annual salary.
The compensation for chairmen of financial holding companies also ranged from several hundred million won to well over 1 billion won. Among the five major financial holding companies, Ham Young-ju, chairman of HanaFinancialGroupInc., received the highest compensation in the first half of the year. Chairman Ham received a total of 1.922 billion won, including a base salary of 450 million won, a bonus of 470 million won, and long-term performance-based pay of 1.002 billion won.
Jin Ok-dong, Chairman of ShinhanFinancialGroup Co.,Ltd., followed Chairman Ham with a total of 938 million won, including a salary of 438 million won and a bonus of 500 million won. Lim Jong-ryong, Chairman of WooriFinancialGroup, received a total of 815 million won in compensation for the first half of the year, while Yang Jong-hee, Chairman of KB Financial Group, received 650 million won. Lee Chan-woo, Chairman of NH Nonghyup Financial Group, was not included in the individual compensation disclosure because his first-half compensation did not exceed 500 million won.