Lee Jae-geun, Nominee for KB Kookmin Bank President, Says "Age Is Just a Number... Will Create a Dynamic Organization"

Meeting Lee Jae-geun, Nominee for KB Kookmin Bank President, on the Way to Work
Hearing His Determination and Strategy...

[Asia Economy Reporter Sunmi Park] "There are many concerns about a young person becoming the bank president. Age is just a number. I will develop KB Kookmin Bank into a dynamic organization in the digital era. I will solidify a performance-oriented culture that appoints based on ability and rewards based on results."

On the morning of his first day at work after being nominated as the next president of KB Kookmin Bank, Lee Jae-geun, Executive Vice President of the Sales Group (55·photo), spoke to reporters about his determination. He was recommended as the sole candidate on the 2nd.

Compared to the current presidents of the five major commercial banks, Lee is the youngest nominee and is seen as a signal of generational change in the banking sector. Repeating the phrase "age is just a number" several times, Lee acknowledged concerns about a young person becoming bank president but expressed confidence that this is a strength that can help develop a dynamic organization.

Lee is regarded within KB Financial Group as a strategist and finance expert. He graduated from Seoul High School, majored in Mathematics at Sogang University, and earned a master's degree in Financial Engineering from KAIST Graduate School. He has held positions in business planning and finance management at KB Kookmin Bank and KB Financial Group.

Regarding KB Kookmin Bank’s strategy for next year, Lee said, "It is an important task to cover the reduction in interest income during the interest rate hike period with new growth engines." He explained, "Currently, the profit structure consists of about 85% interest income and 15% non-interest income, but we need to find other avenues to secure profits in preparation for a decrease in loans during the interest rate hike period. We are focusing on CIB (Corporate & Investment Banking), asset management, global expansion, capital market investment, and digital."

He added, "Next year, the household debt growth rate will be limited to around 4-5%, making it difficult to generate profits from household loans compared to this year. The differentiation in next year’s management performance will be determined more by other markets, such as asset management (WM) or corporate loans, rather than household loans."

Furthermore, Lee stated that alongside strengthening the bank’s soundness, they will refine the credit evaluation model to enable loans to a broader customer base. He said, "Currently, the restriction on household loan growth is focused on prime customers, and limits are open to customers with credit ratings below grade 7. By refining the credit evaluation model, we will identify customers with grades 7-8 who can borrow and repay well, turning this into a new growth opportunity."

Lee also mentioned that the digitalization efforts KB Kookmin Bank is promoting could become a new growth engine when interest income decreases in the future. He said, "About 70% of the fund products sold by the bank are transacted digitally rather than at branches. We will enhance the newly launched KB Star Banking application in October and increase the monthly user count to around 10 million by the end of the year."

Meanwhile, Lee is expected to be finalized as the bank president at the shareholders’ meeting after going through in-depth interviews and evaluations by the President Recommendation Committee, which will be held later this month. His term will begin in January next year and last for two years.

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