Son Tae-seung, Chairman of Woori Financial Group, Reappointed Successfully... '3 More Years' Without Surprises

Son Tae-seung, Chairman of Woori Financial Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] Sohn Tae-seung, Chairman of Woori Financial Group, who received a severe disciplinary action from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) due to the overseas interest rate-linked derivative-linked fund (DLF) incident, has succeeded in his reappointment.

On the 25th, Woori Financial held its regular shareholders' meeting at the Woori Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, and confirmed the reappointment of Chairman Sohn. The term is three years, until March 2023.

The reappointment proposal for Chairman Sohn, which was decided by vote, passed smoothly despite opposition from the National Pension Service, the second-largest shareholder. Six major shareholders including private equity fund IMM Private Equity (IMM PE), Fubon Life, Kiwoom Securities, Korea Investment & Securities, Hanwha Life, and Tongyang Life (holding 24.58%), employee stock ownership (6.42%), and the largest shareholder, the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (17.25%), who supported Sohn’s candidacy for the next chairman, cast their votes in favor. The National Pension Service, holding 7.71%, and foreign funds expressed opposition but did not affect the outcome.

A financial industry insider said, "Although the National Pension Service opposed, with support from employee stock ownership and the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation backing Sohn’s reappointment, the approval was almost certain unless an unexpected event occurred."

Chairman Sohn, whose reappointment has been confirmed, plans to strengthen the holding company system launched last year, focus on the complete privatization of Woori Financial, and expand and diversify business through large-scale mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of securities and insurance companies. Woori Financial is currently arranging acquisition financing for IMM PE, which participated in the main bid for Prudential Life on the 19th.

Chairman Sohn will also devote efforts to strengthening consumer protection policies to improve Woori Financial’s image, which was damaged by the DLF incident, and to emergency management to respond to the global financial crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With the appointment of Kwon Kwang-seok as the new CEO of Woori Bank at the bank’s shareholders’ meeting the day before, the dual role system of 'holding company chairman - Woori Bank CEO' held by Sohn has ended.

Earlier, the Woori Financial Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee unanimously recommended Sohn as the next chairman candidate for a three-year term in December last year. However, the FSS’s sanctions became an obstacle. In January, the FSS’s Disciplinary Committee decided on a severe disciplinary action, a written warning, against Sohn. The sanction took effect when the FSS notified Sohn of the inspection report on the 5th.

Three days later, Sohn filed a lawsuit requesting cancellation of the sanction and applied for a provisional injunction to suspend the sanction’s effect until a judgment is made. The court decided to suspend the sanction’s effect until 30 days after the first trial verdict of the main lawsuit (request for cancellation of the sanction).

If the effect of the severe disciplinary written warning is maintained, Sohn can complete his remaining term but will be restricted from employment in financial companies for the next three years. Therefore, if the court had dismissed the provisional injunction, Sohn would not have been able to seek reappointment. Sohn will engage in legal battles with the FSS over the legitimacy of the sanction while serving as chairman. Even if the sanction is enforced during the next term, it will not affect the execution of that term.

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