Woori Bank said on Thursday it has begun a project to promote an enterprise-level AI agent-based AX initiative that links organically with existing systems, marking a major shift to an AI-based management system.

Enterprise-level AI refers to AI systems designed for company-wide business environments and large-scale data processing.

Woori Bank has built a foundation for using AI by carrying out an internal data overhaul since 2022. It also tested generative AI by introducing AI Banker and Woori GPT into actual work.

To drive practical work innovation, it drew up requirements for 575 agents reflecting feedback from the field and conducted an in-depth evaluation based on ease of execution and investment effectiveness.

As a result, it made a final selection of 175 agents for 29 tasks in five areas: corporate lending, wealth management, internal controls, customer counselling and work automation. It expects processing speed to improve by 30 percent if it redesigns processes around AI agents and applies them.

Woori Bank plans to begin the project by issuing a request for proposal and to roll out 97 AI agents in a first phase in December. It plans to launch an additional 78 by early next year, building a total of 175 agents.

Ok Il-jin (옥일진), deputy head of Woori Bank's AX Innovation Group, said the project is an AI transition in which AI combines with financial systems to shift from "AI that asks and answers" to "AI that works and solves". He said the bank will pursue efficient decision-making and advanced risk management through a major shift to an AI-based management system, and will focus on a shift to productive finance and support for investment-focused financial assistance.