[People人] 'Okay Jin,' the Embracing Leader Who Overcame the Crisis of Lime's Severe Disciplinary Action

Shin Ok-dong, Shinhan Bank CEO, Recently Downgraded to Minor Sanction in Lime Disciplinary Hearing
Leadership in Communication Enables Possible Third Term and Challenge for Chairman Position
A Leader Guiding a Top-Tier Bank with a Belief Focused on 'Customers' Rather Than 'Performance'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] In March 2019, Jin Ok-dong, who was appointed as the head to lead Shinhan Bank, is a CEO recognized for his competence in the financial sector, which is overflowing with highly educated individuals. He is regarded as a self-made figure who graduated from a vocational high school and rose through the ranks to become the bank president.

Having served at the Osaka branch in Japan, as president of SH Capital, and president of SBJ Bank, he is known as a leading Japan expert within Shinhan Financial Group and a pioneering digital specialist. The reason he emphasized digital and global growth as the two pillars after becoming Shinhan Bank president can be seen as confidence derived from his career experience.

Jin, who succeeded in his two-year reappointment last year, recently overcame a major hurdle. In the Financial Supervisory Service’s disciplinary committee regarding the sale of Lime Asset Management’s private equity funds, his preliminary reprimand was downgraded from a written warning to a cautionary warning. If a severe disciplinary action had been decided, it could have significantly impacted the group’s governance structure.

The disciplinary levels for financial company executives are divided into five stages: dismissal recommendation, suspension of duties, written warning, cautionary warning, and caution. Among these, written warning or higher is considered a severe disciplinary action. If severely disciplined, reemployment in the financial sector is prohibited for 3 to 5 years after the current term ends. Fortunately, with a minor disciplinary action, Jin can continue to pursue a third term or challenge for the financial holding company chairman position.

Resolving Leadership Vacuum... Continuing Third Term and Financial Holding Chairman Challenge

Shinhan Bank is greatly relieved by Jin’s minor disciplinary action. Immediate concerns about a leadership vacuum have been resolved. Jin is known as a leader who communicates well within the bank. His greatest strength is his affinity that makes anyone he meets feel comfortable. This is not just simple physical closeness but is built on positive, youthful thinking and inclusiveness, increasing communication with employees. He often shouted “Okay” during conversations with staff. Due to his positive and inclusive leadership style, employees created the nickname “OK Jean,” combining the sincerity of “Jin” and the name “Ok.”

Thanks to his efforts in affinity, Jin is approaching the “500 Club,” a dream for office workers. The 500 Club means “receiving a salary for 500 months.” This is only possible after working for 41 years and 8 months.

Jin advocates “customer value first” as his management philosophy. The phrase he emphasizes most in frontline sales is “customer-centric.” He stresses that all business should be pursued from the customer’s perspective rather than blindly chasing “performance.” While a leader cannot ignore corporate profitability, he believes the focus should be on becoming a “first-class bank” based on “customer trust” rather than immediate “results.” In this process, even if performance is not achieved, it should not be seen as “failure” but recognized as part of the “innovation process,” providing an opportunity for further growth.

Leading a First-Class Bank with a Belief in 'Customer' over 'Performance'

In this year’s New Year’s address, Jin said, “If you can confidently answer two questions?Is it for the customer? Is it for the future??then failure should be recognized as part of the innovation process. Even if it is a method that achieved great results in the past, if it deviates from the standards, it should be reviewed from the beginning.”

Based on this management philosophy, Jin has focused on creating a customer-centric business culture. The ‘Together Growth Evaluation System’ introduced last year is a representative example. This system revamped the evaluation framework of sales branches, which had been performance-oriented, to be assessed from the customer’s perspective, drawing industry attention.

Additionally, to more actively realize consumer protection from the customer’s perspective, organizational restructuring was carried out. A ‘Consumer Protection Group’ was established to serve as a control tower for customer protection, and ‘Financial Consumer Protection Officers’ were placed in each regional headquarters. These officers are responsible for continuously monitoring whether the product sales process at branches is conducted appropriately from the customer’s perspective.

Consumer Protection Organizational Restructuring... Conducting Mystery Shopping for Proper Product Sales

Jin also introduced the ‘Investment Product Sales Suspension’ system to establish a proper product sales culture. Mystery shopping inspections are conducted, and branches with low scores are prohibited from selling investment products for one month. Suspended branches cannot sell funds, equity-linked trusts (ELT), and other products for one month. Additionally, employees responsible for product sales at these branches must retake training on investment product sales procedures and product information.

In a YouTube live broadcast for employees in July last year, when COVID-19 was at its peak, Jin emphasized, “The world is now divided into before and after COVID-19. Whether countries succeed or fail in responding to COVID-19 will determine whether they become advanced or developing nations. For companies to avoid extinction and secure sustainability, the role of leaders is crucial, and leaders must demonstrate through their actions what Shinhan’s values are and where it should head.” Attention is focused on Jin’s path forward after overcoming this major challenge.

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