[1mm Financial Talk] KB Financial Chairman Yoon Jong-kyu Sparks Debate Over 'Solo' Witness Adoption

Yoon Jong-kyu, Chairman of KB Financial Group

Yoon Jong-kyu, chairman of KB Financial Group who is about to retire, has become the only chairman among the four major financial holding companies to be summoned as a witness at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee audit, sparking various speculations.

On the 17th, the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee adopted Chairman Yoon as a witness for the comprehensive audit of the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service scheduled for the 27th. Various theories have been circulating, ranging from the recent KB Financial Management Research Institute report criticizing financial authorities, to issues regarding the chairman succession, and even the failure of public relations responsible for communication with the National Assembly.

In particular, the ruling party and the government have not viewed KB Financial favorably recently. On the 11th, Yoon Han-hong, a member of the People Power Party, publicly criticized KB Financial during the audit. He questioned Kim Ju-hyun, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, saying, "Banks' high-interest rate profits have become a problem, so the authorities formed a task force (TF), but KB Financial issued a rebuttal report. Will you just let it go?"

The KB Financial Management Research Institute recently released a report titled "A Brief Study on Criticism Regarding Banks' Profit Distribution Methods and Employee Compensation," which contained rebuttals against the financial authorities pushing for institutional reforms on banks' interest profit practices and excessive employee compensation systems. KB Financial claimed the document was mistakenly uploaded internally and deleted the report from its website, but the financial authorities were reportedly quite displeased.

Additionally, Representative Yoon mentioned the chairman succession process at KB Financial. He said, "The chairman's term was nine years, but he even appointed his close aide (Vice Chairman Yang Jong-hee) as his successor. Is the chairman's term nine years or eighteen years?" This led to speculation that Representative Yoon strongly advocated for Chairman Yoon's summons as a witness.

However, a representative from Yoon's office explained, "The witness summons was made because several offices requested it," denying any special reason. In fact, it is known that several offices applied to summon Chairman Yoon as a witness. A representative from one office that requested Chairman Yoon's summons explained, "Among four or five places related to internal control issues such as embezzlement and breach of trust, KB ranked first, so we applied." In fact, in August, it was revealed that internal employees of KB Kookmin Bank had gained unfair profits of 12.7 billion won using undisclosed information, causing controversy.

There is also a view that Chairman Yoon, who is about to retire, has become a scapegoat. It is known that offices also applied to summon other chairmen, such as the chairman of Woori Financial Group, but they were not selected as witnesses.

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