| Woori Financial Group headquarters in central Seoul / Korea Times file |
By Yi Whan-woo
Woori Financial Group said Friday that Yim Jong-ryong, a high-profile, retired financial bureaucrat, has been nominated as the firm's next chief.
A former Financial Services Commission (FSC) chairman, Yim will be officially appointed for a three-year term at the financial holding company if he receives confirmation from shareholders and the board of directors in their meeting on March 24.
If successful, he will replace outgoing Chairman Son Tae-seung whose term will end on March 25.
| Yim Jong-ryong, former Financial Services Commission (FSC) chairman and chairman nominee for Woori Financial Group / Yonhap |
It said the committee tapped Lee for the top post after running two rounds of candidate screenings ― each on Wednesday and Friday ― on four candidates who were shortlisted last month.
Yim was the only shortlisted candidate from outside the firm's own ranks, competing against Woori Bank CEO Lee Won-duk, Woori America Bank CEO Shin Hyun-seok and former Woori FIS CEO Lee Dong-yeun.
"The committee assessed Yim as the right man who has the capabilities to take the firm on a leap forward," the banking group said, noting he was also former chairman of NongHyup Financial Group.
The company went onto say that Yim's expertise in both government and the private sector will be critical "at a time of unstable financial circumstances within and outside the country."
"The committee members thus had a consensus that Yim, with his insights in macro-economic issues and government policies, will manage the company in a stable manner," it said.
The banking group said it is on the path toward "bold structural reform," which it saw should be led by "someone who can objectively assesse its management and make changes if needed."
In a separate announcement delivered by Woori Financial Group, Yim thanked the committee members for endorsing him.
"A shareholders' meeting still awaits me, but still, I want to make sure that as the next possible chairman I will make utmost efforts to transform the banking company and continue to win trust from the market, clients and employees of all ranks," he said.
| Yim Jong-ryong, then-Financial Services Commission (FSC) chairman, speaks during a press conference at the Government Complex Seoul in central Seoul in this photo taken on April 16, 2017. Korea Times file |
Born in South Jeolla Province and raised in Seoul, Yim, 63, entered the bureaucracy after passing the high-level civil service exam in 1981.
After that, he climbed the ladder at the finance ministry, building expertise in macro-economic and fiscal policies.
Yim served as the vice finance minister, before becoming the chief of staff at the Prime Ministers' Office from 2011 to 2013 during the Lee Myung-bak administration.
After he left the government, he headed NongHyup Financial Group for a little more than two years until February 2015.
He took up a role as the FSC chairman from March 2015 to July 2017, spearheading the nation's financial regulative body under the Park Geun-hye administration.
Some sources say Woori Financial Group wants to capitalize on Yim's connections with financial regulators as their cooperation is crucial in the company's efforts to diversify its business portfolio.
The banking group has sought such diversification after ending more than two decades of government-led ownership when it fully privatized in December 2021.
Privatization has allowed Woori Financial Group to be more flexible in expanding its business into non-banking sectors.
Meanwhile, Yim's nomination comes after protests from the banking group's labor union amid a dispute over the government's apparent intervention in the reshuffle of the group's top management.
Woori Financial Group has a history of appointing outside figures as its chairmen.
This year, however, the government was bluntly opposed to incumbent Chairman Son making another bid for leadership in what was seen as an attempt to replace him with a pro-government figure. Son accordingly gave up his bid for another term.