KB Financial Group said on Wednesday that it would retrieve the No. 1 banker title by strengthening the retail banking business.

Group chairman Lim Young-rok told some 25,000 employees to “go back to the basics,” referring to retail banking, the group’s “cradle and all-time best sector.”

“The impact of the recession will take on us like a typhoon. Big (banks) are doomed to fall if they are not equipped with the power to stand on their own,” he claimed, stressing that the group should “return to retail banking and ultimately grow outward.”

As of June, about 30 million local customers, or about 60 percent of the local population, use banking services through some 1,200 of the banking operations of the group and its subsidiaries.

Currently about 7 million customers make financial transactions through KB’s smartphone apps.

The group said it aims to boost customer loyalty to its brand by slimming down and becoming more efficient. It halved the number of vice presidents from six to three “to survive the harsh business environment,” signaling strong downsizing.

Giving its subsidiary units more room for flexible management has been a part of Lim’s vision since his appointment as group chairman.

Besides retail banking, the group chairman vowed to develop more sources of profit in KB’s nonbanking sectors, including overseas businesses.

Currently the group has 10 domestic subsidiaries including KB Kookmin Bank, KB Kookmin Card, KB Investment & Securities and KB Life Insurance. The group also runs four overseas subsidiaries in Hong Kong, England, Cambodia and China.

Amid prolonged dim financial outlooks in the local market, KB Financial is poised to strengthen its localization of overseas operations.

In the first half of 2013, operating profit from KB Financial Group‘s lending businesses amounted to about 3.3 trillion won ($3 billion), which accounts for about 90 percent of its total operating profit.

But the group is not considering risky expansion at the moment, focusing on consolidating its domestic businesses such as retail banking.

Nonetheless, partnerships with Korean companies engaged in international operations will be a great plus in creating extra sources of profit outside its banking unit, the group stated.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)