SC Jeil Bank awarded 'KCGS Governance Excellence Company Grand Prize'

Selected as the sole winner of the Governance Grand Prize among 823 listed and financial companies
A board of directors with expertise and diversity dynamically drives key decision-making
Institutionalizing a system where the CEO leads sustainable corporate growth

On the 27th, at the '2020 KCGS Excellent Company Awards Ceremony' held in the main conference room of KCGS (Korea Corporate Governance Service) in Yeouido, Seoul, Kim Kyunghwan, Executive Vice President of the Operations Headquarters at SC First Bank (right), is taking a commemorative photo after receiving the Grand Prize for Excellent Corporate Governance from Shin Jinyoung, President of KCGS.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] SC First Bank announced on the 28th that it received the Grand Prize for Excellence in Corporate Governance at the '2020 KCGS Excellent Companies' evaluation hosted by the Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS).

This year, KCGS conducted corporate governance evaluations on a total of 823 companies (713 general listed companies and 110 financial companies). Among them, SC First Bank received the highest evaluation in the governance category and was solely selected as the grand prize winner.

KCGS explained the reason for selecting SC First Bank as the grand prize winner: "Based on a dynamic board culture, the board of directors leads the company's major decision-making while institutionalizing a system that enables the CEO to drive sustainable growth."

Specific reasons include △activation of board discussion culture △active support for board activities to leverage the expertise of outside directors △an excellent next CEO development system managed by the bank president △institutionalization of a system enabling the CEO to lead the company's sustainable growth △building a highly sustainable board through the professionalism and diversity of the board and key executives △active efforts to secure independence of outside directors, such as excluding the bank president from committees △overall improvement in the operation of the audit committee and risk management committee.

Following last year’s selection as an excellent governance company with an A+ rating in governance?the first among commercial banks?SC First Bank once again received an A+ rating this year, the only commercial bank to do so, and also won the grand prize for governance, thereby being recognized as a company with the best governance system and advanced corporate culture in Korea.

Park Jong-bok, President of SC First Bank, said, "Establishing sound governance and corporate culture lays the foundation for instilling deep trust in customers and enabling sustainable management of the bank. Therefore, receiving this grand prize for governance is more valuable than any other award for a bank that regards customer trust as its lifeblood. We will not be complacent and will continue to strive to lead exemplary governance culture and systems."

Meanwhile, KCGS was established in 2002 with investments from eight institutions including the Korea Exchange, Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Korea Financial Investment Association, Korea Listed Companies Association, KOSDAQ Association, Korea Securities Depository, Korea Securities Finance Corporation, and KOSCOM. It is recognized as the only specialized governance evaluation agency in Korea, participating as part of the Korean delegation with the Ministry of Justice at the OECD Corporate Governance Committee annual meetings. Since 2018, it has been evaluating the governance of financial companies across shareholder rights protection, board of directors, CEO, compensation, risk management, audit organizations and internal control, and disclosure fields based on a specialized evaluation model reflecting global guidelines from BCBS (Basel Committee on Banking Supervision) and FSB (Financial Stability Board).

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