Woori Financial “Transparent Bank President Selection Process... Committed to Developing Leaders”

‘Management Succession Program’ Explanation Press Conference
“Minimizing Sole Discretion of One Chairman”
Plans to Establish and Introduce Leadership Development Program Announced

“Woori Financial Group has made a new attempt to move away from the practice of selecting the bank president and key subsidiary representatives solely through discussions by the internal Subsidiary CEO Recommendation Committee. We introduced a program that enhances procedural transparency and expertise while minimizing the unilateral judgment of a single group chairman.”

Lee Jung-soo, Executive Director of the Strategy Division at Woori Financial Group, explained the newly introduced ‘Bank President Selection Program’ at a press briefing held on the 31st at Woori Bank’s headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. Woori Financial Group emphasized that the recent appointment of the Woori Bank president was conducted transparently and objectively, and announced plans to systematize the program into a manual.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The bank president selection program was conducted in four stages. In the first stage, in-depth interviews by external experts, four evaluators with expertise in various fields were selected to comprehensively assess the candidates’ capabilities. The evaluation criteria were broadly divided into four categories: understanding of changes in the financial environment and the financial industry, bank management and growth strategies, regulatory, risk management, and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) strategies, and leadership and communication skills. Each candidate underwent four sessions of expert in-depth interviews totaling eight hours (two hours per session). Lee added, “To prevent evaluations from being biased by the subjective views of external experts, we internally sampled over 250 questions and provided them to the experts in advance, and also established mechanisms to filter out false answers.”

In the second stage, reputation checks involved multi-faceted evaluations from superiors, peers, and subordinates. Lee explained, “There was sufficient exchange of questions and answers over approximately 50 minutes via phone, focusing on weaknesses as a leader not captured by the bank’s internal systems, undisclosed issues, and communication flaws in work.” He further stated, “None of the candidates had any critical disqualifications in self-management capabilities, expertise, or attitude.” The third stage involved performance evaluations through business report meetings with outside directors, and the fourth stage consisted of presentations (PT) on management plans and in-depth interviews.

Woori Financial Group plans to adopt the so-called ‘Management Succession Program,’ introduced through the bank president selection program, as a corporate culture innovation task and systematize it into a manual. Lee emphasized, “We will avoid situations where someone ‘accidentally’ becomes a candidate and leader, and design a method where transparent, predictable, and well-trained professionals can become leaders.” He also announced, “We plan to introduce a development program for executive directors at the head office level to establish a leadership model and nurture and select leaders accordingly.”

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