On the 25th, Korea Citi Bank's Nomination Committee... Will the First Female Commercial Bank CEO Emerge?

Interest Grows as Yoo Myeong-sun Becomes Final Candidate for Senior Deputy CEO
Encouraging Appointment of Female CEO at Parent Company

Yoom Young-soon, Senior Executive Vice President of Citibank Korea (Acting President)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] Korea Citibank will hold the Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee (ECRC) on the 25th to officially begin the selection of the next bank president. Attention is focused on whether Yoo Myung-soon, the Senior Deputy President who is considered a strong candidate for the next president, will be included in the final shortlist.

According to the financial sector on the 23rd, Citibank will hold the ECRC on the afternoon of the 25th to finalize the shortlist of candidates for the next Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Typically, the shortlist consists of 3 to 4 candidates from both inside and outside the bank. A Citibank official stated, "We will hold the first ECRC meeting on that day to discuss the final candidates, and then decide on the final candidate through the second ECRC meeting in early next month."

The ECRC, attended by four outside directors and the current president Park Jin-hoe, plans to nominate a candidate, followed by holding a board meeting and a general shareholders' meeting to complete the appointment process.

Following President Park's decision to retire after serving for six years since October 2014, the next president will be a new figure. Park's term ends on the 27th of next month.

It is reported that President Park effectively completed his duties as of the 31st of last month. As the chairman of the bank's board of directors, who holds the authority to approve the final candidate, Park's intentions are expected to significantly influence the selection of the next president.

The focus is on whether Senior Deputy President Yoo will be included in the final shortlist. Inside and outside the bank, it is generally expected that Yoo will comfortably make the final candidate list. In the financial sector, the dominant view is that Yoo would become the first female president of Citibank and the first female president of a domestic commercial bank.

Born in 1964, Senior Deputy President Yoo is a rare female expert in corporate banking (IB). After graduating from Ewha Womans University with a degree in English Education, she joined Korea Citibank in 1987 and has held positions such as head of the Large Corporate Risk Department, head of the Corporate Finance Products Division, head of the Multinational Corporate Finance Division, and deputy president of the Corporate Finance Products Division. In 2014, she also served as the head of corporate finance at JP Morgan's Seoul branch. After returning to Citibank, she has been leading the Corporate Finance Group to date. President Park also became president after a long career in IB.

The fact that the parent company, US-based Citigroup, recently appointed a female CEO also raises the possibility of Yoo becoming president. Michael Corbat, who has served as CEO for eight years, announced on the 10th that he plans to step down from the CEO position and the board next February. Subsequently, Citigroup's board appointed Jane Fraser, the global consumer finance CEO, as Corbat's successor.

So far, there has been a case of a female president in Korea with former Industrial Bank of Korea President Kwon Sun-joo. However, Industrial Bank of Korea is a policy bank where the Financial Services Commission recommends and the president appoints, indicating government influence.

A financial sector official said, "While an internal foreign executive or an external third-party figure could become a candidate for president, this possibility does not seem high."

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