New Leadership at Hana Card Faces Numerous Challenges to Address

Appointment of President Kwon Gil-ju at the Temporary General Meeting on the 14th
Urgent Need to Restore Lost Trust

Kwon Gil-ju, President of Hana Card

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Hana Card is appointing Kwon Gil-ju, the current CEO of Dure Signing, as its new head. This comes just eight days after former CEO Jang Kyung-hoon voluntarily resigned due to inappropriate remarks. Given the sudden change caused by an unexpected incident, Kwon faces numerous challenges to address. The immediate priority is to restore trust both inside and outside the company, and to lay the groundwork for new growth through market share expansion and new business initiatives.

According to Hana Card on the 14th, the board of directors and an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders will be held that afternoon to appoint Kwon Gil-ju, the current CEO of Dure Signing, as the new CEO of Hana Card. Kwon’s term will last until the regular shareholders’ meeting in March next year.

Kwon, who joined Korea Exchange Bank in 1985, has held various positions including Head of Management Support at Hana Financial Group, Executive Vice President in charge of ICT for the group, and Deputy Head of Hana Bank’s ICT Group. He has experience across the holding company, banking, and card sectors within Hana Financial Group. Notably, he served as Head of Management Support at Hana SK Card, demonstrating his understanding and expertise in overall card operations, ethical management, and digital management.

Given the unexpected replacement, Kwon faces many tasks ahead. First and foremost is restoring trust in Hana Card, which has been shaken by the recent controversy. Reports indicate that some consumers even showed signs of a boycott, making it essential to regain consumer confidence. At the same time, the internal organizational atmosphere, unsettled by the sudden resignation of the previous CEO, must be stabilized.

Expanding the market share, currently at the bottom tier, is also a key challenge. With intensified competition in the payment market due to the entry of big tech companies, Hana Card’s market share continues to decline. Last year, it dropped from 8.08% in Q1 to 7.77% in Q2, 7.73% in Q3, and 7.54% in Q4, ranking 7th among the seven specialized card companies. Although net profit last year improved significantly by 174% year-on-year to 154.5 billion KRW, expanding market share remains a distant goal.

In the long term, Hana Card must secure future competitiveness by expanding new businesses. To diversify revenue, the company is pursuing various new ventures such as automobile installment financing and subscription economy services. Especially, with the resumption of the review process for the MyData business, which had been halted due to major shareholder eligibility issues, it is advised that the company accelerate efforts to achieve results in MyData, a future growth engine.