Lee Won-duk, Woori Bank President, Announces Resignation

Im Jong-ryong Directly Conveys Intention to Resign

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Lee Won-duk, CEO of Woori Bank, tendered his resignation on the 7th. Although he took office in March last year and had about 10 months left until the end of his term, he decided to step down voluntarily ahead of the launch of the "Im Jong-ryong chairman system."

According to sources in the financial sector, Lee directly expressed his intention to resign to Im Jong-ryong, the designated chairman of Woori Financial Group. Im conveyed this fact to the outside directors of Woori Financial Group on the same day. All seven outside directors of Woori Financial Group participate in the Subsidiary CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee (SCCC), and on this day, they held a meeting to decide the CEO candidates for Woori Financial Group’s affiliates, including Woori Card, Woori Financial Capital, and Woori Comprehensive Financial, whose terms had expired.

Whether Lee would remain in office was the biggest point of interest after Im’s designation. Although Lee’s term was officially until the end of December this year and he was not technically subject to replacement, there was speculation about whether he could continue to serve under Chairman Im’s leadership. Lee was appointed during the tenure of the current chairman Sohn Tae-seung. In particular, since the agenda to recommend a candidate for CEO of Woori Bank did not come up at the SCCC meeting that day, it was widely expected that Lee would remain in office. However, with Lee’s sudden resignation, Woori Financial Group plans to soon begin the process of appointing the next CEO.

Lee joined Hanil Bank, the predecessor of Woori Bank, in 1990 and has held positions such as Vice President of Woori Bank’s Management Planning Group and Senior Executive Vice President of Woori Financial Group. He was appointed CEO of Woori Bank in March last year. Recently, he was also considered a candidate for the next chairman of Woori Financial Group and competed with the designated chairman Im.

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