Top financial group will be headed by Yim Jong-ryong
South Korea’s Woori Financial Group said on Feb. 3 that it had picked former Financial Services Commission chief Yim Jong-ryong as its new chairman.
This means that Yim outrivaled Woori Bank CEO Lee Won-deok in a competition to replace outgoing Chairman Son Tae-seung. Woori Bank is the major affiliate of the financial group.
The nomination committee of Woori is scheduled to recommend Yim to the board so that his three-year term will start after getting the approval in the general meeting on March 24.
“In order to bring changes to the organization, we reached the conclusion that we should name someone with the ability to reform the organization with an objective perspective,” Woori said.
After the nomination, Yim said that he put forth great efforts for Woori.
“I will do my utmost to create innovation and bring about new corporate culture, which are necessary to win far more trust from the market,” he said.
Before heading the Financial Services Commission, Yim served as the boss of NH Financial Group. He also worked as an advisor at the country’s major law firm Yulchon.
Incumbent Chairman Son announced earlier this month that he would not run for another term.
The decision came after he had received a reprimand warning from the Financial Services Commission late last year for the improper sale of Lime Funds.
Yim studied economics at Yonsei University and worked as a financial bureaucrat before serving as the Minister for Government Policy Coordination between 2011 and 2013.
