Korea's finance industry plagued by persistent gender pay gap

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Korea's finance industry plagued by persistent gender pay gap

Published: 22 Apr. 2026, 07:00

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Workers commute to work at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on Feb. 19. [NEWS1]

The gender pay gap across Korea’s financial industry remains wide, with insurance companies showing the largest disparities, according to new data analyzed by the JoongAng Ilbo.

Sectors with a higher share of performance-based pay and wider compensation spreads tend to produce larger disparities, with men consistently earning more on average than women.

While pockets of reversal have emerged — particularly at certain ranks in banking and securities — they remain exceptions in a system where the overall structure still favors male employees.

These findings are based on compensation data that financial firms began publishing in March after a parliamentary audit last year brought the issue of gender disparities in finance into sharper public focus.

Among the four major commercial banks — KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Hana Bank and Woori Bank — the average annual pay gap stood at about 30.5 million won ($20,642), with Shinhan Bank exhibiting the highest gap between the genders at roughly 44 million won.

However, the pay gap among staff who work at physical bank branches was reversed at KB Kookmin Bank and Woori Bank, where women in such positions earn slightly more than men on average. This difference is likely due to the higher proportion of women working in these roles and the higher concentration of employees with longer tenures among them.

The gender pay gap was wider in the securities industry, where the average disparity in salaries reached about 38.6 million won across Samsung Securities, Mirae Asset Securities, Korea Investment & Securities, NH Investment & Securities and KB Securities.

However, some companies bucked this trend when it came to their higher-ranking staff.

Female vice presidents at Samsung Securities earned more on average than their male counterparts, while women outearned men at the department head and team leader levels at KB Securities. NH Investment & Securities also showed a similar pattern among senior managers. But these reversals were limited to select ranks, with the broader structure still tilted toward higher male pay.

The gender pay disparity was wider still in the card industry, where the average gap was 42.8 million won among five major card issuers: Shinhan Card, Samsung Card, Hyundai Card, KB Kookmin Card and Lotte Card, with Hyundai Card posting the widest difference.

But the most striking pay imbalances by far are in insurance.

Among nonlife insurers such as Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance and DB Insurance, the average gap reached 63 million won — the largest across the financial sector. At DB Insurance alone, the difference between male and female employees approached 69 million won.

Life insurers showed similarly large disparities. At firms such as Samsung Life Insurance, Kyobo Life Insurance and Hanwha Life Insurance, the average gap hovered around 44 million won. Hanwha Life did show a reversal at several mid-level ranks, where women earned more than men, but the overall structure — particularly at the executive level — remained male-dominated.

A woman walks by ATMs in Seoul on April 27, 2025. [YONHAP]

One industry representative who spoke to the JoongAng Ilbo attributed these gaps to the composition of companies’ work forces.

“Women are more heavily represented in roles such as customer service, support and call centers, which tend to offer lower pay,” they said, adding that this dynamic “is compounded by a pyramid-shaped structure in which female representation thins sharply at higher ranks, concentrating the highest salaries among male executives.”

The data has also revived calls to formalize gender pay reporting.

While some financial firms now publish the data pursuant to regulatory guidance, disclosures remain voluntary, with limited penalties for noncompliance. The government is considering expanding a mandatory pay transparency regime across industries as early as next year.

“Disclosing wage information can strengthen workers’ bargaining power and incentivize companies to consider ways to manage the risks to their reputations,” said Kwon Hei-won, a professor of business administration at Dongduk Women’s University. “To reduce gender pay disparities, the reporting system needs to be made more rigorous by imposing penalties for false or inadequate disclosures and for companies that fail to make meaningful improvements.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM DA-YOUNG [[email protected]]