Who Will Be the 52nd Woori Bank President? Kim Jeong-gi vs. Kwon Kwang-seok Showdown Possible

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Gang-wook] Woori Financial Group will hold an Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee meeting on the 11th to appoint the next president of Woori Bank.

According to sources in the financial sector, Woori Financial’s Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee plans to hold a meeting on the day to select candidates for the next Woori Bank president.

Currently, the committee has narrowed down the candidates for Woori Bank president to three and has conducted interviews. The final three candidates are Kwon Kwang-seok, CEO of Saemaeul Geumgo Central Credit Guarantee; Kim Jeong-gi, Executive Vice President of Woori Bank’s Business Support Division and HR Group; and Lee Dong-yeon, CEO of Woori FIS.

Previously, the committee planned to select one final candidate after in-depth interviews including presentations on the 29th of last month, but failed to reach consensus and postponed the decision to the 31st. However, on the 30th, following the heavy disciplinary action (official warning) against Chairman Sohn Tae-seung of Woori Financial by the Financial Supervisory Service’s Sanctions Review Committee due to losses from overseas interest rate-linked derivative-linked funds (DLF), the scheduled president appointment process was temporarily suspended the next day.

Subsequently, Woori Financial’s board held an emergency meeting on the 6th and decided to maintain Chairman Sohn’s leadership until the official notification of the sanction’s effect, and to resume the president appointment process. This is interpreted as a judgment that it is difficult to delay the appointment process any further to ensure organizational stability amid growing uncertainty surrounding governance. The new president selection process began after Chairman Sohn was finalized as the group chairman candidate at the end of last year, announcing the separation of the group chairman and bank president roles, which he had held concurrently.

The Group Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee is chaired by Chairman Sohn. Five outside directors?No Seong-tae, Park Sang-yong, Jeong Chan-hyung, Jang Dong-woo, and Jeon Ji-pyeong?recommended by Woori Financial’s major shareholders participate as committee members.

In the financial sector, among the three candidates, Executive Vice President Kim is considered the leading candidate. Vice President Kim has worked closely with Chairman Sohn for many years and is recognized for his excellent organizational management skills, making him a suitable candidate to reorganize the unsettled organization following the DLF loss incident. In particular, he has formed a “mainstream theory” in line with the tradition of alternating appointments between the Commercial Bank and Hanil Bank. Traditionally, Woori Bank presidents have alternated between those from the Commercial Bank and Hanil Bank. Chairman Sohn, who currently holds the bank president position concurrently, is from Hanil Bank.

CEO Kwon previously served as Executive Vice President of Woori Bank’s IB Group and External Cooperation Team, then as CEO of Woori PE, and is currently serving as CEO of Saemaeul Geumgo Central Credit Guarantee. He is evaluated to have strengths in the bank’s CIB and global strategy based on his IB work and overseas IR experience. He is known to have the backing of IMM PE, one of Woori Financial’s major shareholders, emerging as a dark horse. IMM PE received a 170 billion KRW investment from Saemaeul Geumgo during the 2016 privatization share purchase of Woori Bank (before its conversion to a holding company). There are also rumors of political support.

The personnel appointments for Woori Financial affiliates’ presidents are also expected to take shape. With the suspension of the president appointment process, the recommendation process for CEO candidates of six subsidiaries?Woori Card, Woori Securities, Woori FIS, Woori Financial Management Research Institute, Woori Credit Information, and Woori Fund Service?was also postponed one after another. The committee plans to proceed with the appointment of the next presidents for four affiliates?Woori Card, Woori FIS, Woori Securities, and Woori Credit Information?along with the next bank president on the day. The delayed executive personnel appointments at the bank are also expected to accelerate.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.