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By Park Hyong-ki
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| Woori Bank CEO Sohn Tae-seung |
But also, the board members may discuss whether to have a chairman and a bank chief executive, or a single leader allowing for one top decision-maker to run both the holding company and the bank.
Some potential candidates for these positions have been introduced only in the news, which the bank's spokesman said, were "just market rumors."
The candidates included Oh Gap-soo, president of the Global Finance Society, and Shin Sang-hoon, former president of Shinhan Financial Group. Oh was also a former adviser for the Moon Jae-in camp during Moon's run for president, and is a visiting professor at Seoul National University Business School.
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| Shin Sang-hoon |
But Woori Bank drew the line, saying that is for the board to decide, not the government or the Financial Services Commission (FSC).
"It will be up for the board to decide how Woori will draw and establish its leadership structure," said a bank spokesman.
Woori Bank's union made it very clear in its statement that it will strongly oppose anyone from the Moon administration "parachuting" into the top executive post at the bank.
Also, it said it wanted a "Woori insider" who knows the ins and outs of the bank to be the leader of the holding company until it becomes stable after the transformation.
This indicates that the union seemed to be rooting for Sohn, and leaves Oh "out of the picture" because he used to work for President Moon, an industry source said.
Oh also was a former board member of KB Financial Group, but did not extend the period of his term following an internal feud between KB Financial and KB Kookmin Bank in 2014.
Shin had been indicted and charged with embezzlement and breach of trust when he was president of Shinhan Financial. But he was later cleared of most of the charges.
Shin is one of Woori Bank's outside directors, according to Woori Bank's audit filing.
The spotlight on Woori's leadership has been getting brighter as the bank is about to receive approval for its financial holding plan from the FSC early November.
FSC Chairman Choi Jong-ku told reporters on Oct. 15 that as a shareholder, the government would be "interested in Woori's governance."
He also said Oct. 18 that there would be pros and cons for one person to hold both titles of CEO of Woori Bank and the financial holding company.
But the FSC chief indicated he did not like the idea of the bank "creating a chairman position exclusively for a specific person," after a meeting to evaluate the condition of the shipbuilding industry.
The state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC) holds an 18.43 percent stake in Woori Bank, which is expected to be sold as the government seeks to exit its investment in the bank after the transformation.
