Jo Byung-kyu, Woori Bank President: "Earnings Shock in First Half... Must Strive with Urgency"

'2023 Second Half Business Strategy Meeting'

Jo Byung-kyu, President of Woori Bank, urged employees to "recognize the current situation coldly and make desperate efforts to quickly narrow the gap with other banks."

According to Woori Bank on the 30th, President Jo made these remarks during the 'Second Half Management Strategy Meeting' held on the 28th at Woori Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, with about 500 employees. Woori Financial Group posted a net profit of 625 billion KRW in the second quarter of this year, which is a 32.3% decrease compared to the same period last year (923 billion KRW) and a 31.6% decrease compared to the previous quarter (914 billion KRW). The total net profit for the first half was 1.539 trillion KRW, down 12.7% from the first half of last year (1.762 trillion KRW). This contrasts with some financial holding companies that posted record-breaking performances.

At the meeting, President Jo emphasized, "Without change and challenge, survival is impossible," and urged, "Branch managers, as leaders of Woori Bank, should focus on sales with a strong will not to retreat, turning the first half's earnings shock into an earnings surprise in the second half."

Meanwhile, under the slogan "Newly, Differently, Amazingly, Woori Change (CHANGE)," the meeting included awards for outstanding sales organizations in the first half and shared key sales promotion plans for each business group in the second half.

President Jo mentioned the importance of customer-oriented channels, stating, "Specialized sales organizations such as the BIZ Prime Center, 'Two Chairs W (TWO CHAIRS W)', Global Investment WON Center, and Southeast Asia Growth Business Division will play a leading role in Woori Bank's new beginning."

He also presented plans to establish a field-centered paradigm for personnel and compensation. By transferring the management of sales professionals such as Relationship Managers (RM) and Private Bankers (PB), as well as business budgets, to the respective groups, the bank aims to prioritize the field from discovering and nurturing to rewarding specialized personnel.

President Jo announced a plan to shift major IT development and operations from the existing outsourcing method to direct operation. The goal is to internalize IT development capabilities, which are core to the bank's competitiveness, and evolve the mobile channel Woori WON Banking into 'NEW WON' to create a non-face-to-face platform ecosystem.

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