The Banker ~ A Dirty Money Game Gets Even Dirtier

“The Banker” is a 2019 Korean drama series, with 32 episodes (30-minute episodes), categorized as Financial Crime, Corporate Drama, Thriller, and Suspense, and is streaming on Viki or KOCOWA+. It is a remake of the Japanese “Nozaki Shuhei Auditor of Bank”; adapted from the manga “Kansayaku Nozaki Shuhei”.

SUMMARY: A sleazy unscrupulous boss at the bank’s headquarters office tries to cover up his dirty money and get rid of the employee most likely to expose him. But instead the employee gets promoted to a position that gives him full access to all of the bank’s records.

♦ The Higher-ups are Going to Close the Branch. Why?

In “The Banker”, No Dae-Ho has a colorful background. He’s a former silver medalist who won the award for his shooting skills. That’s why he was able to help poor villagers when boars kept eating their crops. They couldn’t catch them. But No Dae-Ho said all he needed to do was get them in his sights and the villagers would be rid of them. True to his word he killed two boars. Since he lived up to his part of the bargain, they had to honor their part. If he got rid of the boars they would come to the bank branch and open savings accounts. It was an unusual way to get account holders, but it worked!

Shortly after that, No Dae-Ho chased after a thief who stole the purse of a customer who had just left the bank. The thief was caught and the news reported that No Dae-Ho was a hero. It gave the Daehan Bank good publicity as well. However, his boss who worked at the head office in Seoul was not happy about it. But the reason he didn’t like the attention was because he was engaged in some shady dealings at the bank. If you shine a spotlight on the bank, he might get caught. No Dae-Ho was not aware of his corruption. Since his boss was in charge of all of the bank branches he made two decisions.

• Decision 1: No Dae-Ho is the branch manager at the Gongju branch. His boss told his “delivery guy” (who picks up and drops off dirty money) to take the money to the Gongju branch. He feared investigators might uncover his dealings if he kept using the same locations. But thanks to No Dae-Ho, the Gongju branch has a good reputation. It might be a good place to hide the money.

But no plan is ever perfect. The delivery guy got into an accident and the money was all over the streets. Lots of people saw it and the delivery guy didn’t hang around to explain it. The accident is going to cause questions and his idea about using the Gongju branch didn’t go according to plan.

• Decision 2: No Dae-Ho’s boss needed to create a distraction to get people to pay attention to something else. He assigned Han Soo-Ji aka “witch Han” to do a study of the most profitable branches, knowing that the Gongju branch would be in the lower 20%. Then he presented the idea to the board of directors, bank president, and other officials to close down those branches. They approved. His boss needed the branch to be closed because he had set up a fake account there to launder his dirty money. In other words, it was a convenient way to get rid of the financial records. On the surface, it just looked like Daehan Bank was downsizing.

No Dae-Ho and Han Soo-Ji are friends, so she tried to warn him, in advance, that the head office was going to close his branch. No Dae-Ho did everything he could to improve the branch’s statistics and profitability. But regardless of his efforts, his boss made sure that the Gongju branch was included with the rest of the branch closures. Dirty deeds covered up. Mission accomplished. Hhmmm? Was it really accomplished?

♦ The Branch Closed But the Branch Manager was Promoted.

When No Dae-Ho saw the notice of the branch closing, he was disappointed. He apologized to his employees and told them they would likely be transferred to other branches nearby.

For the hard work that she had done analyzing the profitability of the branches, Han Soo-Ji a promoted. She became a member of the board of directors.

But what about No Dae-Ho? His branch employees were the first to know because they saw the report of the transfers of all the employees at the Gongju branch. When they checked No Dae-Ho’s name and position, it said “auditor” at the headquarters office in Seoul. AUDITOR? Isn’t that a high position, a member of the board of directors? 

Nobody was more surprised than No Dae-Ho at his promotion. Is this a blessing in disguise? Blessing? Perhaps. Seems like the perfect job for him. He’s honest, diligent, hardworking, courageous, and most importantly, he won’t turn a blind eye to corruption. That’s an apt description. That’s why there was someone who was probably more surprised than No Dae-Ho at his promotion. His boss! The one who had gone through all of that effort to close down the Gongju branch thinking he had covered his tracks and got rid of the branch manager who put Daehan Bank in the spotlight with his heroic deeds.

NO!! NOT No Dae-Ho!! The boss’ best-laid plans were all for naught!

Auditors have access to ALL of the records and they have independent oversight!!

Uh oh! The dirtiest game in town just got dirtier!

Main Characters:

• No Dae-Ho (played by Kim Sang-Joong, “Knight Flower”)
• Han Soo-Ji aka “witch Han” (played by Chae Shi-Ra)
• Kang Sam-Do (played by Yoo Dong-Geun)
• Lee Hae-Gon (played by Kim Tae-Woo)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 8.6 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 7.5 out of 10 stars
• Dramabeans: 7.5 out of 10 stars
• Viki viewers rated this series 9.2 out of 10 stars

My personal rating is the same as Viki viewers.

I stumbled across this Korean drama series and thought to myself: ‘I’ve watched K-dramas about auditors, accountants, lawyers, doctors, not to mention players and swindlers. Why not a banker?‘ Kim Sang-Joong plays the banker who is NYAH (not your average hero), but he is determined to pursue justice. Whenever there is dirty money involved, you know you’re dealing with some dangerous people. What draws you to the main character is his humility, honesty, and bravery. Plus the fact that he got promoted when his enemy was trying to get rid of him. Hilarious!

LINKS OF INTEREST:

New drama series ‘The Banker’ tops weekly TV chart on debut week | Yonhap News Agency

K-Drama Premiere: “The Banker” Explores The Depraved And Convoluted World Of Banking | Hello Kpop

The Banker :Drama | MBC Global Media (A synopsis that provides an excellent description of the characters.)

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

KOCOWA TV. “Tune in on March 27th, We’ll Audit You! [The BankerㅣTeaser Trailer].” YouTube, 27 Mar. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nQQEyaanIo.

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