South Korea's four major financial groups - KB, Shinhan, Hana and Woori - have placed artificial intelligence transition (AX) at the forefront of their second-half management strategies. After stressing AI innovation early this year, they are shifting their focus to execution in the second half, including adopting AI agents, reorganising teams and revamping work processes.

According to the financial sector on Tuesday, the four groups are fleshing out AX strategies for the second half, centred on expanding AI agents, reorganising organisations and advancing data and platforms. They are focusing on embedding AI across customer service, sales, lending and internal work beyond introducing digital technology, aiming to raise productivity and improve customer experience at the same time.

KB Financial Group held its second-half group management strategy meeting on July 10-11 and presented drawing up a roadmap to accelerate the group's AI transition as a key task.

It reviewed structural changes in the financial industry, including the spread of AI technology, shifts in the digital finance ecosystem and productive finance. It also checked key tasks for KB to lead the market.

Affiliates such as KB Kookmin Bank are also expanding a super-app ecosystem centred on KB Star Banking by integrating mydata across affiliates.

On the organisational front, the group appears to be strengthening its AX 추진 system at the group level through its Future Strategy Division, which integrates strategy and AI and digital innovation functions.

Earlier, Shinhan Financial Group held a "2026 second-half management forum" on July 3-4 and discussed strengthening market competitiveness and its AX strategy. An AI agent produced in-house by Shinhan Financial Group was used as the debate's "red team". The AI agent analysed the discussion and took part throughout the forum.

Based on the group's AX diagnosis results, Shinhan Financial Group shared its second-half plan to become an "AI-native company" and also ran an experience programme to let participants directly try AI agents.

Shinhan Bank also selected three 추진 strategies at its second-half management strategy meeting on July 6: advancing customer management and sales support solutions, expanding customer touchpoints using the group integrated platform "Shinhan Super SOL", and work innovation based on AI agents.

To support that, it also carried out an organisational overhaul, establishing a "Super SOL Promotion Group" and a "Marketing Division". The strategy is to expand customer touchpoints and advance the sales support system based on the group integrated platform.

Hana Financial Group is also pursuing AX as a core growth strategy for the group. It is maintaining a system to check major issues as needed under the CEO, instead of holding a separate regular management strategy meeting, while strengthening competitiveness in its core financial business.

Over the mid-to-long term, it plans to advance the group's common data and AI infrastructure and embed AI in core business services at each affiliate. It is also planning to expand AI use centred on sales sites and build a partnership-based collaboration ecosystem, linking that to changes in business and operating methods.

Woori Financial Group will hold its second-half management strategy meeting on July 16. It is expected to focus on AI-based corporate finance innovation, including treating advancement of corporate lending AX as a key task. In particular, Woori Financial Group decided to build an AX system across the entire lending process to 추진 a structural transition of its corporate lending system.

In this way, competition over AX in the financial sector is drawing attention as it is moving to a stage of applying the AI innovation plans presented early this year to actual organisations and sales sites.

While AI use in the sector had previously remained at simple support work such as consultation chatbots or document summarisation, it has recently been evolving quickly towards AI agents that analyse data, propose alternatives or support complex tasks.

Financial groups aim to expand AI beyond customer consultation and product recommendations to cover fraud transaction detection, risk management, lending work and broader financial operations, raising productivity and customer experience at the same time.

Financial regulators are also working to refine systems and guidelines for using generative AI, gradually improving conditions for AI use in the financial sector.

As a result, in the second half it is expected that competitiveness among financial groups will be determined by how quickly and stably they can move beyond simply adopting AI technology and embed it in sales, lending, internal work and customer service.

A financial sector official said that as a revised draft of AI guidelines in the financial sector has also been announced recently, the pace of AX 추진 by financial firms is expected to accelerate further in the second half. The official said AI adoption will proceed rapidly across areas including systems and work implementation.