Hana Financial's 'Ham Young-joo Ship' Sets Sail... Woori Financial Adopts Son Tae-seung - Lee Won-duk Two-Top System

Hana and Woori Financial to Hold Shareholders' Meeting on 25th
Chairman Ham Young-joo and Non-Executive Director Lee Won-duk Appointment Passed

Ham Young-joo, Chairman of Hana Financial Group (left), and Lee Won-duk, President of Woori Bank.

Overcoming various judicial risks, Hana Financial Group’s ‘Ham Young-joo administration’ is officially setting sail. Woori Financial Group has established a two-top system with Sohn Tae-seung and Lee Won-duk.

On the morning of the 25th, Hana Financial held its regular shareholders' meeting and passed the agenda to appoint Vice Chairman Ham as chairman. Although Vice Chairman Ham lost the first trial in the lawsuit demanding the cancellation of the Financial Supervisory Service’s heavy sanctions related to the incomplete sales of overseas interest rate-linked derivative-linked funds (DLF), increasing judicial risks, he overcame this and succeeded in becoming chairman.

The day before, the National Pension Service, the largest shareholder, announced it would exercise its voting rights in favor of Ham’s appointment, which had a positive effect. The consistent shareholder-friendly dividend policy also seemed to win the hearts of shareholders. Although ISS, the world’s largest proxy advisory firm, recommended opposing the appointment, the votes of foreign shareholders holding more than 67% of the shares hardly shifted. Shareholders appeared to be concerned once again about management gaps and confusion that could arise during the process of selecting the next leader.

The Seoul High Court, which is handling the appeal trial of the DLF case, also positively influenced the situation by accepting Ham’s request for a suspension of execution. Since employment restriction sanctions will not apply until the final judgment, the burden was reduced. Given that the appeal trial and the final judgment are expected to take a considerable amount of time, there is a forecast that the three-year term can be completed safely.

On the same day, Woori Financial also held a shareholders' meeting and passed the agenda to appoint Lee Won-duk, CEO of Woori Bank, as a non-executive director. The term is two years. He will form a two-top system with Sohn Tae-seung, chairman of Woori Financial Group, who secured a three-year term after successfully renewing his appointment last year.

In Woori Financial’s case as well, ISS opposed the new appointment of CEO Lee as a non-executive director and the reappointment of other outside directors, but the related shareholders' meeting agenda passed smoothly. ISS has expressed opposition since last year, citing that Woori Financial directors did not check Chairman Sohn despite incidents such as the private equity fund scandal.

Meanwhile, ahead of Hana Financial’s shareholders' meeting, some organizations held a press conference opposing the appointment of Ham as chairman. The Financial Justice Solidarity, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, the National Private Equity Fund Fraud Victims Joint Countermeasure Committee, and the Hana Bank Private Equity Fund Victims Solidarity held a press conference in front of Hana Financial Group’s headquarters that day, stating, "We oppose the appointment of Ham Young-joo, responsible for recruitment corruption and the private equity fund scandal, as the next chairman."

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