Hanacard Appoints Kwon Gil-joo as President... Numerous Challenges to Address (Comprehensive)

Appointed at the Temporary General Meeting on the 14th
Urgent Need to Restore Lost Trust

Kwon Gil-ju, President of Hana Card

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Hana Card has appointed Kwon Gil-ju, the current CEO of Dure Signing, as its new head. This comes just eight days after former CEO Jang Kyung-hoon voluntarily resigned due to inappropriate remarks. Given the sudden replacement caused by an unexpected incident, Kwon faces numerous challenges to address. The immediate priority is to restore trust both inside and outside the company, while also laying the groundwork for new growth through market share expansion and new business initiatives.

According to Hana Card on the 14th, the board of directors and an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders were held that afternoon, during which Kwon Gil-ju, the current CEO of Dure Signing, was appointed as the new CEO of Hana Card. Kwon’s term will last until the regular shareholders' meeting in March next year.

Kwon, who joined the Korea Exchange Bank in 1985, has held various positions including Head of Management Support at Hana Financial Group, Executive Vice President in charge of ICT at the group, and Deputy Head of the ICT Group at Hana Bank. He has experience across diverse roles within Hana Financial Group’s holding company, bank, and card sectors. Notably, he served as Head of Management Support at Hana SK Card, demonstrating his understanding and expertise in overall card operations, ethical management, and digital management.

Urgent Tasks: Restoring Consumer Trust and Revitalizing Internal Atmosphere

Given the unexpected nature of the replacement, Kwon faces many tasks ahead. First and foremost is restoring the trust in Hana Card that has declined both inside and outside the company due to the recent controversy. Reports indicate that some consumers even showed signs of a boycott, making it essential to regain consumer confidence as soon as possible. At the same time, the internal organizational atmosphere, unsettled by the sudden resignation of the previous CEO, must be stabilized. Earlier, the Hana Card labor union demanded Jang’s resignation and occupied the CEO’s office, creating conflict with management, so Kwon must also work toward healing the divided labor-management relations.

Expanding the market share, which remains at the bottom tier, is another major challenge. With intensified competition in the payment market due to the entry of big tech companies, Hana Card’s market share continues to decline. Last year, it dropped from 8.08% in Q1 to 7.77% in Q2, 7.73% in Q3, and 7.54% in Q4, ranking 7th among seven full-service card companies. Although net profit last year rose sharply by 174% year-on-year to 154.5 billion KRW, expanding market share remains a distant goal.

In the long term, Hana Card must secure future competitiveness by expanding new businesses. To diversify revenue, the company is pursuing various new ventures such as auto installment financing and the subscription economy. This year, it has been reorganizing its financial service business in line with digital trends to become a comprehensive digital payment company. Especially, with the resumption of the review process for the MyData business?which had been halted due to major shareholder eligibility issues?there is advice to accelerate efforts to achieve results in MyData, a future growth engine.

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