Hana Financial, Choosing Stability... Focused on Finding the 'Post Kim Jeong-tae' (Comprehensive)

Chairman Kim Jeong-tae Selected as Final Candidate
One-Year Term, Busy Road Ahead

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Kim Jung-tae, Chairman of Hana Financial Group, will lead Hana Financial for one more year. Although Chairman Kim had consistently expressed his intention not to seek reappointment, as the COVID-19 crisis prolonged, internal and external opinions emphasizing the importance of stable leadership led to a consensus on extending his term. However, since the term is only one year, the urgent task of finding a ‘post-Kim Jung-tae’ successor remains.

According to the financial sector on the 25th, Hana Financial held a Chairman Candidate Recommendation Committee meeting the previous day, conducted interviews with the shortlisted candidates, and selected Chairman Kim as the final candidate for the next chairman. Although procedures such as reporting to the board next month and the regular shareholders’ meeting remain, the reappointment is effectively confirmed. The chairman candidate pool included Chairman Kim, Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo of Hana Financial, Vice President Park Sung-ho of Hana Bank, and former Korea Citibank President Park Jin-hoe.

Immediately after the committee’s decision, Chairman Kim stated, "I will dedicate myself to stabilizing the group’s organization," adding, "With a heavy sense of responsibility, I will devote myself to overcoming crises caused by internal and external uncertainties such as COVID-19 and stabilizing the group’s organization."

Since his last appointment, Chairman Kim had continuously expressed his intention not to seek reappointment. Recently, he has been delivering lectures to subsidiary employees with the message, "I will be a stepping stone." It is known that Chairman Kim has officially and unofficially expressed his intention to step down more than ten times this year alone.

However, as individuals mentioned as next chairman candidates faced legal risks such as lawsuits and disciplinary actions from financial authorities, the opinion that Chairman Kim should be reappointed gained strength. Additionally, Hana Financial’s outstanding performance, including a record-high net profit of 2.6372 trillion won last year amid the COVID-19 situation, also contributed to the reappointment. Furthermore, the financial authorities, who opposed his reappointment in 2017, appeared to accept it this time, which had a positive effect.

Group Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee Starts Operation from the 25th to Reorganize the System

Although Chairman Kim succeeded in his reappointment, Hana Financial is expected to face the challenge of ‘finding a successor’ soon. Chairman Kim’s term is only one year. According to Hana Financial’s internal regulations, the chairman can serve only until the age of 70. Chairman Kim is 69 this year.

Because of this, there is already speculation that the task assigned to Chairman Kim is to find the ‘post-Kim Jung-tae’ successor. The first step in finding a successor is the Group Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee (Executive Recommendation Committee), which starts on this day. Among Hana Financial’s 14 subsidiaries, the CEO terms of 11 companies expire next month. The four-member Executive Recommendation Committee includes Chairman Kim as a member.

In the financial sector, there is speculation about the possible replacement of Hana Bank President Ji Sung-kyu and Hana Financial Vice Chairman and Hana Financial Investment CEO Lee Jin-guk. Park Sung-ho, Vice President, who was listed in this chairman recommendation committee, is a strong candidate to succeed President Ji. Vice President Park is considered the biggest ‘surprise figure’ in this chairman recommendation process, as he made it to the final list ahead of Vice Chairman Lee and President Ji. Park joined the predecessor of Hana Bank, Korea Investment Finance, and has walked the path of a ‘Hana man’ for 34 years, symbolizing a ‘person nurtured by Hana,’ leading to speculation that he could be at the forefront of a ‘generation change.’

Lee Eun-hyung, Vice Chairman of Hana Financial, is mentioned as a candidate for CEO of Hana Financial Investment. Vice Chairman Lee is known as one of the top international experts in the financial sector, having served as Executive Vice Chairman of China Minsheng Investment, the largest private investment group in China, and as an advisory professor at Peking University. Since March last year, he has been working as one of the three vice chairmen of the holding company.

The candidates recommended by the Executive Recommendation Committee will be finalized at the next month’s shareholders’ meeting after going through each company’s Executive Recommendation Committee and board of directors.

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