'Sales Expert' Chairman Ham Young-joo's First Address... Revitalization as Sales and Crisis Management Specialist (Comprehensive)

First CEO Appointment After Chairman Ham Young-joo's Inauguration
Financial and Strategy Experts Assigned to Banks, 'Sales Veterans' to Securities and Cards

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] After his inauguration, Han Young-joo, Chairman of Hana Financial Group, made his first personnel changes by replacing the CEOs of major affiliates such as Hana Bank, Hana Securities, and Hana Card. Given his background as a 'sales expert,' this move is interpreted as a strategy to navigate the challenging financial sector environment by appointing sales and crisis management specialists.

Hana Financial Group announced on the 14th that on the 13th, it held the Group Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee (hereafter Group Recommendation Committee) meeting and recommended CEO candidates for Hana Bank, Hana Securities, and Hana Card.

Successor to Park Sung-ho, Hana Bank President, is 'Finance Expert' Lee Seung-yeol, CEO of Hana Life Insurance

Lee Seung-yeol, Candidate for CEO of Hana Bank (Provided by Hana Financial Group)

Lee Seung-yeol, the current CEO of Hana Life Insurance, was recommended as the candidate for president of Hana Bank, the group's key affiliate. Born in 1963, Lee graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in Economics and earned a master's degree from the same university's graduate school before joining Korea Exchange Bank. He then served as CFO of Hana Financial Group and Hana Bank, a non-executive director of Hana Bank, and head of group human resources at Hana Financial Group. He is currently serving as CEO of Hana Life Insurance. If appointed president, he will become the first president from the Korea Exchange Bank lineage. This means that those from Korea Exchange Bank and Seoul Bank (Chairman Han Young-joo) merged into Hana Bank have all held the president position.

The Group Recommendation Committee stated, "We judged that candidate Lee Seung-yeol, amid the recent difficult financial environment, will communicate well with all organizational members based on strategic direction and crisis management capabilities, especially listening to opinions from the sales field, and will smoothly build relationships with investors, customers, and other stakeholders." They added, "He is the right person as he can lead the organization smoothly with gentle charisma based on conviction and principles."

Thus, current Hana Bank President Park Sung-ho will complete his two-year term without renewal. However, since only Vice Chairman Lee Eun-hyung remains among the originally three group vice chairmen, there is speculation that Park may take on a vice chairman role within the holding company.

Lee Eun-hyung, who served as 'firefighter,' to focus again on Vice Chairman role at Hana Securities

Kang Sung-mook, candidate for CEO of Hana Securities (left), and Lee Ho-sung, candidate for CEO of Hana Card (Photo by Hana Financial Group)

Kang Sung-mook, current CEO of Hana Alternative Investment Asset Management, was selected as the candidate for CEO of Hana Securities. Born in 1964, Kang graduated from Sogang University with a degree in Sociology. He has experience leading the Sales Support Group, Management Support Group, and Central Sales Group at Hana Bank, gaining experience in retail and corporate sales as well as management. He later served as Vice President overseeing retail at Hana UBS Asset Management and is currently CEO of Hana Alternative Investment Asset Management.

Lee Eun-hyung, who took on the 'firefighter' role early last year to stabilize the organization amid controversies such as former Hana Securities (then Hana Financial Investment) CEO Lee Jin-guk being investigated by prosecutors for insider trading, is expected to focus again on his role as Vice Chairman of the group's global division.

Meanwhile, Lee Ho-sung, current Executive Vice President of Hana Bank, was recommended as the candidate for CEO of Hana Card. Also born in 1964, Lee has worked in the Yeongnam Sales Group and Central Sales Group of Hana Bank and is currently serving as Executive Vice President overseeing the sales group. The Group Recommendation Committee explained, "Based on his extensive sales field experience and internal and external group networks and cooperation experience, he is the optimal candidate to significantly expand the customer base and lay the foundation for Hana Card to grow as a key non-bank affiliate within the group."

The CEO candidates for each major affiliate of Hana Financial Group will be finalized through subsequent meetings of each company's Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee, board of directors, and shareholders' meetings. A financial sector official commented, "By placing sales experts and strategy and finance specialists in key group affiliates, it appears to be a strategy to strengthen sales capabilities stably and manage risks amid a difficult financial environment."

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