Citibank Korea Appoints Yum Yoosoon as New CEO... First Female CEO of a Domestic Commercial Bank Emerges

Appointed through the shareholders' meeting and board of directors on the 27th
Inaugural remarks delivered via internal broadcast on the 28th
First action: Visit to the asset management specialized Seoul Center

Yoo Myung-soon, New President of Citibank Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The first female head of a commercial bank in Korea has been appointed. Yoo Myung-soon, acting head of Korea Citibank (56), was appointed on the 27th as the new president who will be responsible for the next Korea Citibank. As her first move after taking office, President Yoo plans to visit Citibank's asset management (WM) specialized branch, which is the bank's greatest strength. This shows that President Yoo will focus more on WM capabilities in the future.

Korea Citibank announced that it held a shareholders' meeting and a board meeting consecutively on the same day to appoint Acting President Yoo as the new president. The term is three years. President Yoo has been serving as acting president since last month following the voluntary retirement decision of the current president, Park Jin-hoe.

President Yoo studied English Education at Ewha Womans University and earned an MBA from Sogang University. She joined Citibank in 1987 and has spent over 30 years specializing exclusively in corporate banking (IB).

Starting as an analyst in the Corporate Credit Department, she held key positions such as Head of Corporate Credit Department at the Seoul branch, Head of Multinational Corporations Department, Head of Multinational Corporations Headquarters, Vice President of Corporate Finance Products Headquarters, and Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance Group. In 2014, she briefly left to serve as the Seoul branch manager of JP Morgan but soon returned to Citibank, ultimately earning the title of the first female head of a commercial bank in Korea.

Across the entire banking sector, President Yoo is the second female president in the history of Korean banks. There is the case of President Kwon Sun-joo, who served as president of IBK Industrial Bank of Korea from 2013 to 2016. However, IBK is a policy bank where the Financial Services Commission recommends and the President appoints the head. President Yoo is the first female CEO of a private bank.

President Yoo's appointment had been somewhat anticipated following President Park's decision not to seek a third term. Furthermore, last month, Citigroup, the parent company of Citibank, appointed the first female CEO on Wall Street, which increased the likelihood.

On the 28th, as a preventive measure against COVID-19, President Yoo plans to deliver her inaugural message to employees via internal broadcasting. Her first official activity will be a site visit. President Yoo will personally visit each department at the Citibank Seoul Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and the head office to greet each employee. The Seoul Center, a three-story building with an area of 1,900㎡, is one of the largest WM specialized branches in Korea. It is the third WM center opened by the bank, following the Banpo Center in Seocho-gu and the Cheongdam Center in Gangnam-gu. The branch employs about 90 staff members, including around 50 private bankers (PBs).

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