Woori Bank President Candidates Narrowed Down... Three-Way Race Among Lee Won-duk, Park Hwa-jae, and Jeon Sang-wook

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] The candidates for the president of Woori Bank have been narrowed down to three: Lee Won-deok, Senior Executive Vice President of Woori Financial Group; Park Hwajae, Executive Vice President of the Credit Support Group at Woori Bank; and Jeon Sang-wook, Deputy Executive Vice President of the Risk Management Group.

According to the financial sector on the 28th, the subsidiary CEO candidate recommendation committee (hereinafter referred to as the recommendation committee) of Woori Financial Group has finalized these three as the final interview candidates (shortlist) for the next president of Woori Bank.

The recommendation committee, composed of Woori Financial Group Chairman Sohn Tae-seung and six outside directors (No Seong-tae, Park Sang-yong, Jeong Chan-yong, Jang Dong-woo, Shin Yo-hwan, and Yoon In-seop), plans to recommend CEOs for eight subsidiaries, including Woori Bank and Woori Comprehensive Financial, whose terms expire early this year.

Candidate Lee Won-deok previously worked in Woori Bank’s Strategic Business Department, served as head of the Future Strategy Division, and Executive Vice President of the Management Planning Group, and is currently serving as Senior Executive Vice President in charge of operations at Woori Financial Group.

Candidate Park Hwajae has experience in Woori Bank’s Housing Finance Business Division and Southern Gyeonggi Sales Headquarters and is currently serving as Executive Vice President of the Credit Support Group.

Candidate Jeon Sang-wook, Deputy Executive Vice President of Woori Bank’s Risk Management Group, worked at Woori Financial Research Institute from 2011 to 2019 before transferring to Woori Bank, where he has been working in the Risk Management Group.

Current Woori Bank President Kwon Kwang-seok is excluded from this candidate pool and will complete his term at the end of March.

Woori Financial Group is expected to select the final candidate by the end of next month at the latest. The final candidate will be appointed at the shareholders' meeting held in March.