(25 January 2004 – South Korea) Kookmin Bank is set to axe some 4,800 employees, a whopping 17 percent of its workforce.Kookmin said business consultants had advised the job cuts to help the bank achieve organisational efficiencies.
Recently elected chief executive Kang Chung-won also stressed that the bank must reform if it to survive.
Analysts had predicted the bank would need to shed five to 10 percent of the workforce.
The bank said it was seeking volunteers for early retirement and was also working with unions.
Kookmin has the Bank of New York, ING Insurance, and Goldman Sachs as major shareholders as well as the South Korean government. Almost half of all South Koreans are customers of the bank.