Shinhan Investment will set up an "AI Agent Department" made up only of artificial intelligence agents, the first such move by a South Korean financial company, and will build a collaborative system in which people and AI work together.

Shinhan Investment said on Sunday it has created the AI Agent Department under its AX division to carry out tasks such as information research and preparing materials.

The AI Agent Department consists of 4 AI agents in total, including a team leader and 3 staff agents. The team leader agent assigns tasks, and the staff agents carry out their respective roles before handing over work to produce a final output.

AI agents will do the work, but a person will be responsible for the final review of the output. The company will also assign 1 AI specialist in a concurrent role for AI governance, security and quality control.

The first pilot task will be support for the wholesale business. AI agents will handle preparing meeting materials and proposals, researching market information and analysing key issues.

The company plans to allow employees to focus on work that requires judgement and expertise, such as setting investment strategies and identifying new businesses.

Shinhan Investment plans to use AI not just as a tool for automating routine tasks but as a "digital colleague" that works alongside employees.

The company is pushing AI transformation, or AX, across 4 areas - customer-facing, employee-facing, infrastructure and governance - in line with Shinhan Financial Group's "AI Native Company" strategy.

During operations of the AI Agent Department, it plans to standardise operating principles such as task allocation and handovers among agents and verification of results. It also plans to expand the scope of application to key business divisions including research, wealth management, investment banking and digital platforms.

Chief Executive Lee Seon-hoon (이선훈) said, "The AI Agent Department is a new challenge that goes beyond a simple digital project and changes the company's fundamentals." He added, "We will expand areas of AI collaboration across company-wide operations to lead AI innovation in the financial sector."