Woori Financial Group chief declines to run for another term

Woori Financial Group Chairman Son Tae-seung at a press conference held in central Seoul on May 27. Son announced Wednesday he will not vie to remain the company chairman. [YONHAP]

Woori Financial Group Chairman Son Tae-seung is not running to keep that job for another year.

“I will not take actions to serve another term as the Woori Financial Group chairman to take part in the generational shift recently seen in the financial circle,” Son said in a statement on Wednesday.

“I hope the board recommends a competent successor that will develop the group based on the values of the complete privatization,” which Woori achieved in 2021, he added.

The statement was submitted before the company’s board held a meeting to decide on the list of names to be recommended for the chairmanship.

Son has served as the chairman since Dec. 2018. His term ends in March.

He had expressed a desire to serve another term, but a board committee disagreed, according to reports from local media outlets.

Son received a reprimand warning from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) in November for the improper sale of Lime funds.

A reprimand is the third-heaviest punishment on the regulator’s five-level punishment scale. The warning bars holding positions at financial companies for three years, although current terms can be completed.

The punishment was in response to the selling of risky Lime Asset Management funds to retail customers. Many of these customers lost money after the funds were frozen.

Son was the head of Woori Bank, a group subsidiary, when the bank was marketing the Lime funds.

Son was also reprimanded by the FSS for the improper selling of high-risk derivative-linked funds by Woori Bank, but the Supreme Court ruled in his favor in December.

The FSS had held Son responsible for failing to monitor the high-risk investment products from being released and sold to individual customers who lack expertise in the instruments.

Son has been pressured not to run for another term.

FSC chief Kim Joo-hyun said the reprimand warning was arrived at after many rounds of discussions within the financial authority. Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) chief Lee Bok-hyun similarly said the punishment was a “unanimous” decision.

After the punishment was announced, Lee said that he believes Son “will make a wise decision,” which was interpreted by the press as a warning for Son not to take legal action.

Woori Financial Group's board committee made a list of names recommended to take on the company’s chairmanship.

Lee Won-duk, CEO of Woori Bank and Kwon Kwang-seok, former CEO of Woori Bank, are some of the names that were likely to have been included on the list, according to the local press. The short list with names of finalists are scheduled to be announced on Jan. 27.

Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung declined to run for his post at the last minute in December. Lee said Cho is a personally "respectable leader," after he decided to bow out.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]