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Hana Bank chief could be sacked

Kim Jong-jun

Kim Jong-jun, CEO of Hana Bank, was summoned and reprimanded by the Financial Supervisory Service yesterday, a punishment that is one of the strongest to be handed out in the financial industry and could lead to a three-year ban from the sector.

The reprimand stems from an incident in 2011 when Kim, then-CEO of Hana Capital, incurred losses at the company in order to increase capital at Mirae Savings Bank.

Kim could be banned from working in the industry for three years after his tenure expires.

Earlier this month, the FSS gave Kim a verbal warning for investing 14.5 billion won ($13.9 million) in Mirae Savings Bank and causing a 6 billion won loss to Hana Capital.

The authority found that the CEO committed the wrongdoing on the orders of Kim Seoung-yu, former chairman of Hana Financial Group.

The former chairman was issued a mild warning.

“Such punishment was unavoidable because there is evidence that [CEO Kim] manipulated documents to change dates of board meetings, which proves that the investment was illegal,” an FSS official said.

Before walking into the FSS building, Kim told reporters, “I didn’t receive the order from former Chairman Kim about making investment in Mirae Savings Bank.”

The FSS is also investigating illegal loan issuances by Hana Bank to KT ENS, a subsidiary of KT.

Hana Financial Group is at risk as the former and incumbent chiefs both face trouble with the FSS.

Kim’s punishment needs approval of the Financial Services Commission to be finalized.

This year, Kim was renominated as CEO for another year.

By song su-hyun [ssh@joongang.co.kr]