Personnel Changes in Samsung Financial Affiliates: Life, Insurance, and Securities Replaced
Card Division Likely Maintained... Seeking Stability Amid Uncertainty
Insurance Industry CEO Season... KB and DB Insurance Terms Ending Year-End
Hong Won-hak, the new president of Samsung Life Insurance (left), and Lee Mun-hwa, the new president of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (Photo by Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance)
Leaders of major financial affiliates of Samsung Group, including Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, are being replaced. Although they achieved strong performance, a generational shift is taking place with representatives born between 1964 and 1967 in their 50s.
On the 1st, Samsung Life Insurance held an Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee meeting and recommended Hong Won-hak, president of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (pictured left), as the new CEO candidate. Born in 1964, Hong graduated from Korea University with a degree in Japanese Language and Literature. He has held positions such as head of the HR team at Samsung Life Insurance, head of the Strategic Sales Division, and head of the FC Sales Division 1. He also briefly worked as an executive director in the management strategy team at Samsung Electronics. Since the end of 2021, he has served as the CEO of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, contributing to record-high performance. Hong, who has diverse experience across life and non-life insurance, is expected to lead future competitiveness in the somewhat stagnant life insurance industry.
The vacant CEO position at Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance will be filled by Lee Moon-hwa, vice president of Samsung Life Insurance (pictured right). On the same day, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance’s executive recommendation committee also promoted Lee to CEO. Lee joined Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance in 1990 and has experienced various roles in sales and support departments. He has served as head of the Actuarial RM team, head of the Management Support team, and head of the General Insurance Division. Since December last year, he has been the head of the Strategic Sales Division (vice president) at Samsung Life Insurance. During this time, he is credited with contributing to organizational reform by implanting the DNA of non-life insurance, which is sensitive to change, into Samsung Life Insurance. He is expected to strengthen the diverse business structure of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, which is already cruising with record-high performance, and to build an organizational culture for innovation.
Jongmoon Park, CEO of Samsung Securities (Photo by Samsung Securities)
In the case of Samsung Securities, Park Jong-moon, president of Samsung Life Insurance’s Asset Management Division and former head of the Samsung Financial Competitiveness Enhancement Task Force, was appointed as the new CEO. Born in 1965, Park graduated from Naeseong High School in Busan and Yonsei University with a degree in Business Administration, and earned a master’s degree in Financial Engineering from KAIST. After joining Samsung Life Insurance in 1990, he held positions such as head of the Support Team, executive director of the Overseas Business Division, and head of the CPC Strategy Office. Samsung Card is reportedly not planning to change its CEO. Given that the card industry is enduring the worst recession but has maintained solid performance under CEO Kim Dae-hwan’s risk management, this is interpreted as a strategy to minimize uncertainty and maintain stable operations for the time being.
Meanwhile, with the CEO appointments at Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, regarded as the 'elders' of the insurance industry, completed, attention is turning to CEO appointments across the entire insurance sector. The CEO terms of KB Insurance and DB Insurance expire at the end of this month. KB Insurance CEO Kim Ki-hwan took office in January 2021, completed a two-year term, and was extended for an additional year this year. Although performance has been favorable due to the industry boom, with the change of the KB Financial Group chairman, it is widely expected that affiliate CEO appointments will be reshuffled by the end of the year.
DB Insurance is likely to see the reappointment of CEO Jung Jong-pyo. Earlier this year, Vice Chairman Kim Jung-nam stepped down from the CEO position at DB Insurance, transitioning from co-CEO to sole CEO less than a year ago. Having already conducted his first executive personnel appointment reflecting his intentions and with steady performance, he is expected to continue as CEO. Additionally, CEO terms for Pyun Jung-beom of Kyobo Life Insurance and Lee Eun-ho of Lotte Insurance are set to expire in March next year.
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