Famousoon Breaks the 'Glass Ceiling'... Becomes First Female CEO of a Major Commercial Bank

Imchuwi, Sole Recommendation for Next Bank President

Yoom Young-soon, Acting Head of Korea Citibank

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Kim] In the conservative banking sector, the glass ceiling (an invisible barrier within organizations that prevents women and others from being promoted to senior positions) is expected to be broken with the emergence of the country's first female head of a commercial bank. The protagonist is Yum Yoomsoon, Acting CEO of Citibank Korea (56).

According to the banking sector on the 8th, Citibank held its second Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee meeting the day before and unanimously recommended Acting CEO Yum as the sole candidate for the next bank president.

Although the approval of the board of directors scheduled for the 27th and the shareholder meeting resolution process remain, barring any surprises, the first female CEO of a private commercial bank will appear.

Broadening the view to the banking sector, Acting CEO Yum is the second female bank president in the history of domestic banks. There is the case of former IBK Industrial Bank of Korea President Kwon Seonju in 2013. However, IBK is a policy bank, where the Financial Services Commission recommends and the president appoints the position.

In fact, Acting CEO Yum's appointment as president was somewhat anticipated after the current president Park Jinho decided not to seek a third term. Earlier last month, Citigroup, the parent company of Citibank, appointed the first female CEO on Wall Street, increasing the possibility. Citigroup announced plans to appoint Jane Fraser, head of Global Consumer Banking, as CEO in February next year.

Also, Citibank is recognized as a women-friendly and multicultural-friendly bank. It emphasizes diversity by having a Women's Committee and Diversity Committee within the bank. The proportion of female executives is higher than other banks, with 5 out of 13 executives at the senior manager level or above being women.

Acting CEO Yum graduated from Ewha Womans University with a degree in English Education and completed an MBA at Sogang University. She joined Citibank in 1987 and took her first step into corporate finance (IB) as an analyst in the Corporate Review Department. Even then, and still now, female experts in the IB field are rare.

Since then, she has held key positions such as head of the Corporate Review Department at the Seoul branch, head of the Multinational Corporations Department, head of the Multinational Corporations Headquarters, and deputy head of the Corporate Finance Products Headquarters. She currently serves as Senior Deputy Head of the Corporate Finance Group. In 2014, she briefly moved to JP Morgan as head of the Seoul branch before returning.

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