Nov. 2, 2009 (The Korea Times) -- By Kim Jae-won

Staff Reporter

The head of Kookmin Bank unveiled his vision to transform the lender into a speedy, flexible bank Monday, in a bid to make KB Financial Group (NYSE:KB) the best in the country.

At the eighth anniversary of the nation's largest lender, CEO Kang Chung won stressed that the bank, the flagship of the financial holding company, should play a bigger role to achieve the vision.

"We have made great success in our group-wide efforts to create synergies among subsidiaries through joint marketing. Kookmin Bank, as a leader in the group, should step up efforts to strengthen cooperation," he said.

Kang, who is also acting chairman of the financial group, stressed the need to streamline the organization.

"It is not that big beats small but that quick beats small. We should seek to create a big but speedy and flexible organization," he added.

Kang also called for bank employees to make more efforts to develop themselves, referring to Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na, who completed her sixth consecutive win in the international competition with the best record ever in Paris last month. "We need to learn from Kim's challenging spirit, confidence, and improvement by competition," he said.

Kang expressed his desire to make KB keep the best status.

"There is no bank which has kept the top spot more than 10 years. We should break that record."

Kang pointed out that best service and employees' potential are key to achieving the goal.

"We should be able to provide a top-quality service and products at a cheap cost in a speedy manner. At the same time, more efforts should be made to develop differentiated products on a continuing basis," he said.

"We will focus more on improving employees' capabilities. Also, we will try to come up with a long-term roadmap to foster global talent," he added.

Kang also noted the group's social responsibility. "We should take responsibility for people who cannot get support from financial institutions. We will set up the KB Micro Credit Finance Institute to support the underprivileged as part of efforts to fulfill our role as a corporate citizen."

Kookmin Bank is the largest bank in the nation by both asset value and market capitalization.

It was originally established in 1963, through a merger with the Housing & Commercial Bank in 2001.