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| From left are Samsung Life Insurance CEO Jeon Young-muk, Samsung Card CEO Kim Dae-hwan and Samsung Asset Management CEO Shim Jong-geuk. / Courtesy of each company |
By Park Jae-hyuk
Former and incumbent Samsung Life Insurance employees in their 50s will lead the nation's largest conglomerate's financial units, according to each affiliate, Tuesday.
The latest reshuffle is considered to indicate the group's efforts to seek better profits through a generational shift amid a worsening business environment for the financial market.
Samsung Life nominated Samsung Asset Management CEO Jeon Young-muk, 56, for its new chief.
Hyun Sung-chul, 60, who has led Samsung Life since 2018, stepped down.
Jeon has served as the Samsung Asset Management CEO since 2018, after working at Samsung Securities from 2015 to 2018 and previously at Samsung Life from 1986 to 2015.
The new chief executive is tasked with boosting profits at the nation's leading life insurer which posted 976.8 billion won ($837 million) in net income for the first three quarter of 2019, down 43.4 percent from 1.7 trillion won a year earlier.
Samsung Card recommended Samsung Life Vice President Kim Dae-hwan, 57, as its new CEO.
The new chief executive, who has worked at Samsung Life since 1986, is expected to focus on digital transformation when he manages the card issuer which is facing deteriorating profitability.
Won Gee-chan, 60, who has led the nation's second-largest credit card company since 2014 after his 28-year career at Samsung Electronics, decided to leave the company, amid the ongoing criminal suit over his alleged sabotage of union activities at the Samsung Electronics' customer service unit.
He was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in prison suspended for three years at his trial in December 2019.
Samsung Asset Management proposed Samsung Life Vice President Shim Jong-geuk, 59, who has worked for Samsung Life since 1986, for the successor to the outgoing CEO Jeon.
The nominees will officially be appointed as new CEOs subject to approval at upcoming board meetings.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance CEO Choi Young-moo, 57, and Samsung Securities CEO Chang Seok-hoon, 57, will maintain their positions.
Choi, who has worked at the insurance firm since 1981, is facing a daunting task as his company's net income for the first three quarters of 2019 dropped 35.1 percent year-on-year to 585.9 billion won.
Chang, who has worked for the brokerage since 1995, was promoted to president from vice president in the latest reshuffle.
He has led the securities firm since July 2018, when former CEO Koo Sung-hoon resigned after his company was punished by the financial regulator over the "fat finger" scandal that took place in April that year as Samsung Securities mistakenly gave about 2.8 billion shares to its workers who owned company stock, instead of 2.8 billion won in dividends.
