KB Financial Board of Directors "Oppose Appointment of Outside Director Candidate Recommended by Employee Stock Ownership Association"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] The KB Financial Group board of directors has expressed opposition to the appointment of outside director candidates recommended by the employee stock ownership association.

On the 29th, the KB Financial board announced through a disclosure, "The board reviewed whether the shareholder proposal for outside director candidate recommendations, proposed by the head of the employee stock ownership association and some shareholders, aligns with the interests of the company and all shareholders." It added, "The nomination of outside director candidates at our company is conducted systematically and rigorously through stages of candidate pool formation, evaluation, shortlisting, reputation checks, and final selection. Regardless of the legal qualification requirements for shareholder-proposed candidates, we judged that appointing candidates who have not gone through KB’s exemplary outside director candidate management and recommendation procedures is undesirable, and therefore oppose the agenda."

It continued, "The proposing shareholders stated that they urgently recommend environmental and governance experts as directors to strengthen Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) efforts. However, KB Financial already formed an ESG committee in March this year, the first in the industry, composed entirely of directors with expertise in governance and diverse fields," and explained, "Since then, we have continuously pursued ESG-related improvements such as reducing carbon emissions, announcing KB Greenway 2020, and declaring the group’s first coal divestment finance policy."

The board added, "Since the current board size and structure have been formed over several years with shareholder approval at general meetings, if shareholder-proposed candidates are additionally appointed at an extraordinary general meeting without unavoidable reasons such as the retirement of existing directors, changes to the board and committee composition will be inevitable, causing confusion in board operations."

Last month, the KB Financial employee stock ownership association submitted a shareholder proposal to the board office recommending ESG experts Professor Yoon Soon-jin of Seoul National University Graduate School of Environmental Studies and Ryu Young-jae, CEO of Sustainvest, as outside director candidates. Even if the board officially expresses opposition, they plan to contest the vote at the extraordinary general meeting scheduled for the 20th of next month.

On the same day, the KB Financial board urged shareholders, "To secure the quorum for the general meeting, we recommend proxy voting. Please delegate your voting rights to the company," conveying their intention to transfer votes to the board to block the appointment of outside directors recommended by the employee stock ownership association.