Leadership changes at 9 Woori Financial Group subsidiaries

Woori Bank CEO Lee Won-duk at a press conference held in central Seoul last May. [NEWS1]

Woori Financial Group is welcoming new leadership at a number of subsidiaries.

The financial company is making the changes for “organizational transformation and future growth,” it said in a statement Tuesday.

Woori Bank CEO Lee Won-duk said Tuesday that he will resign, though he will stay on until a replacement is found.

Park Wan-sik was named the CEO of Woori Card and Cho Byung-kyu as the CEO of Woori Financial Capital. Other subsidiaries where CEOs were replaced include Woori Investment Bank, Woori Asset Trust and Woori Savings Bank.

Lee’s term at Woori Bank ends in December, but he will step down “to reduce the management burden” on newly elected Chairman Yim Jong-yong, according to Woori.

The announcement was made ahead of Yim’s inauguration. Yim will be inaugurated on March 24 after being approved by the board at the regular shareholder meeting scheduled to be held on the day.

Yim is a former chief of the Financial Services Commission and a former chairman of NongHyup Financial Group. Lee vied against Yim for the chairman role to replace the outgoing Son Tae-seung.

Woori plans to pick between three to four candidates for the role, but it did not specify the deadline. Lee will continue in the role until the new CEO is elected.

The company said it is reducing the number of senior executives at Woori Financial Group to seven from the current 11. Six of them are being replaced.

The number of senior executives at Woori Bank is being reduced to 18 from the current 19. Twelve of them are being replaced.

Woori will also create a task force committed to transforming corporate culture and a division dedicated to supporting the financially vulnerable and small and medium-sized companies.

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