Woori Bank CEO Jung Jin-wan speaks during a ceremony at the bank's headquarters in Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Woori Financial Group

Woori Bank CEO Jung Jin-wan said trust, customer-centric services and innovation will be the top priorities to restore the confidence of its customers and the public at large, according to the lender, Wednesday.

The value and importance of trust cannot be overstated enough to ensure full internal control, he added, in an apparent reference to heated criticism of the bank sparked by a bout of employee misconduct over the past few months. Included are embezzlement and poorly granted loans during the unchallenged reign of former Woori Financial Group chair Son Tae-seung.

"The rebuilding of strong trust will come only through internal controls that are genuinely effective, not through the facade of it," he said during a ceremony at the bank's headquarters in Seoul, Tuesday, when his two-year term began as the 56th CEO of the bank.

The business process will be streamlined to bolster efficiency, aided by the removal of unnecessary tasks for employees to develop a customer-oriented mindset and better tend to their needs, he added.

"Mutual growth with customers is the reason for our existence," he said.

The bank will continue to advance the government's drive to provide financial assistance to the most vulnerable groups of income earners and borrowers.

"We will outline financial support measures to help revive the real economy, underpinned by Woori Bank's founding principle of efficient funding as the foundation of national development."

Employees will no longer be graded on a curve, a significant change in the group's evaluation system, according to the CEO.

"Woori employees will be subject to absolute grading from now on, a step toward healthy competition and the joint growth of Woori and the workers. We will create a corporate culture defined by dynamic and young energy," he said.