The Banker (TV series)

The Banker (Korean: 더 뱅커) is a 2019 South Korean television series starring Kim Sang-joong, Chae Shi-ra, Yoo Dong-geun and Kim Tae-woo. It is based on the Japanese manga Kansayaku Nozaki Shuhei which was written by Ryōka Shū and illustrated by Shigeru Noda from 1998 to 2002. The series aired on MBC's Wednesdays and Thursdays at 22:00 KST from March 27 to May 16, 2019.^[2]

The Banker
Promotional poster
Hangul	더 뱅커
RR	Deo baengkeo
MR	Tŏ paengk'ŏ
Genre	Drama
Based on	Kansayaku Nozaki Shuhei by Ryōka Shū and Shigeru Noda
Developed by	Park Jae-bum
Written by	Seo Eun-jung Oh Hye-ran
Directed by	Lee Jae-jin
Starring	Kim Sang-joong Chae Shi-ra Yoo Dong-geun Kim Tae-woo
Music by	Lee Ji-yong
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	32[a]
Production
Executive producer	Kim Dong-rae
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	35 minutes[a]
Production companies	MBC Drama Production RaemongRaein Co., Ltd.
Original release
Network	MBC TV
Release	March 27 (2019-03-27) – May 16, 2019 (2019-05-16)
Related
Nozaki Shuhei Auditor of Bank (WOWOW, 2018)

Synopsis

No Dae-ho, an honest banker, tries to fight corruption.

Cast

Main

• Kim Sang-joong as Noh Dae-ho^[3]
• Chae Shi-ra as Han Soo-ji^[3]
• Yoo Dong-geun as Kang Sam-do^[3]
• Kim Tae-woo as Lee Hae-gon^[4]

Supporting

Audit Office staff

• Ahn Woo-yeon as Seo Bo-geol^[5]
• Shin Do-hyun as Jang Mi-ho
• Cha In-ha as Moon Hong-joo
• Kim Kyu-chul as Park Yong-soo^[4]
• Kim Byung-choon as Han Min-gu
• Lee Yoon-sang as Cho Young-sik

Korean Bank employees

• Ahn Nae-sang as Yug Gwan-sik^[4]
• Seo Yi-sook as Do Jeong-ja^[4]
• Ju Seok-jae as Lim Chang-jae
• Oh Yong as Min Hyeong-gi
• Jung Kyung-ho as Byeon Seong-tae
• Jung Hyung-suk as Sung Chi-wook
• Lim Seung-dae as Kim Young-ho

People around Kang Sam-do

• Kim Young-pil as Secretary Kim^[4]
• Go In-beom as Jung Soo-chan
• Kim Byung-ki as Choi Jong-soo
• Nam Myeong-lyeol as Park Jin-ho

Others

• Park Jung-hak as Bae Dong-seok
• Lee Jin-kwon as Mr. Jeong
• Ryu Sung-hyun as Park Jung-bae
• Son Jeon-geun^[6]
• Lee Mi-young
• Oh Seung-eun^[7]
• Choi Yang-rak
• Kim Byung-chun

Guests

• Jang Gwang as Jo Jang-kwang, (Haesan Group chairman)

Production

• The first script reading took place on January 30, 2019.^[8]
• The Banker reunites Kim Sang-joong and Kim Tae-woo who previously starred together in The Jingbirok: A Memoir Of Imjin War.^{[citation needed]}

Original soundtrack

The Banker OST
Soundtrack album
Released	2019
Genre	Soundtrack
Language	Korean English
Label	Warner Music Korea Snow Entertainment

Part 1

Released on March 28, 2019 (2019-03-28)

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Suddenly" (괜스레)	Lee Eun-mi	4:14
2.	"Suddenly" (Inst.)		4:14
Total length:			8:28

Part 2

Released on April 3, 2019 (2019-04-03)

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Justice"	KLANG	3:21
2.	"Justice" (Inst.)		3:21
Total length:			6:42

Ratings

• In this table, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.
• N/A denotes that the rating is not known.

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share
		AGB Nielsen[9]		TNmS
		Nationwide	Seoul	Nationwide
1	March 27, 2019	4.6%	5.2%	3.7%
2		4.5%		4.0%
3	March 28, 2019	2.5%	—	3.3%
4		3.3%		3.5%
5	April 3, 2019	4.1%	4.5%	4.4%
6		4.9%	4.9%	5.2%
7	April 4, 2019	3.9%	4.1%	—
8		4.6%	4.7%
9	April 10, 2019	3.6%	3.7%	3.8%
10		4.5%	4.5%	4.8%
11	April 11, 2019	4.4%		—
12		5.2%	5.7%
13	April 17, 2019	3.8%	4.3%	3.4%
14		4.1%	4.8%	3.7%
15	April 18, 2019	2.6%	—	—
16		3.0%
17	April 24, 2019	3.4%	3.5%
18		4.0%	4.0%
19	April 25, 2019	3.0%	—
20		3.6%
21	May 1, 2019	3.4%	3.7%
22		4.2%	4.6%
23	May 2, 2019	4.1%	4.4%
24		4.7%	4.8%
25	May 8, 2019	3.7%	3.8%	3.5%
26		4.6%	4.7%	3.7%
27	May 9, 2019	3.6%	—	3.5%
28		4.6%	4.5%	4.4%
29	May 15, 2019	3.6%	—	3.2%
30		4.3%		4.0%
31	May 16, 2019	5.4%	5.4%	—
32		7.0%	6.8%	5.1%
Average		4.1%	—[b]	—[b]

Notes

1. In order to circumvent Korean laws that prevent commercial breaks in the middle of an episode, what would previously have been aired as single 70 minute episodes are now being repackaged as two 35 minute episodes, with two episodes being shown each night with a commercial break between the two.^[1]
2. Due to some ratings not recorded, the exact average rating is unknown.