Jeong Il-moon, CEO of Hanwha Investment & Securities, Earns 5.1 Billion KRW in H1... Financial Sector's 'Salary King'

Jung Il-moon, President of Korea Investment & Securities, is being interviewed by Asia Economy on the 20th. / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] The 'highest-paid' executive in the financial industry for the first half of this year (January to June) was Jeong Il-moon, CEO of Korea Investment & Securities, who received nearly 5.1 billion KRW.

According to the semi-annual report disclosed on the electronic disclosure system on the 16th, Jeong Il-moon, CEO of Korea Investment & Securities, received a total compensation of 5,089,170,000 KRW for the first half of the year, including a salary of 424,400,000 KRW and a bonus of 4,664,770,000 KRW. This ranks first across the entire financial industry. Additionally, Kim Nam-goo, chairman and owner of Korea Financial Group, received 3,159,390,000 KRW in compensation for the first half, which includes a salary of 344,400,000 KRW and a bonus of 2,814,990,000 KRW.

Kim Jung-tae, former chairman of Hana Financial Group who retired in March, received 4,464,000,000 KRW, including a special merit payment of 2.5 billion KRW. This amount includes a salary of 397,000,000 KRW, a bonus of 1,147,000,000 KRW, and retirement pay of 420,000,000 KRW.

Choi Hyun-man, chairman of Mirae Asset Securities, earned a total of 3,484,000,000 KRW in the first half, consisting of a salary of 833,000,000 KRW and a bonus of 2,645,000,000 KRW.

Among securities CEOs, Jeong Young-chae, CEO of NH Investment & Securities (2,216,000,000 KRW), and Choi Hee-moon, vice chairman and CEO of Meritz Securities (2,082,240,000 KRW), also received more than 2 billion KRW.

In the card industry, Jeong Tae-young, vice chairman and CEO of Hyundai Card and Hyundai Commercial, had a total compensation of 2,532,000,000 KRW. He received 1,295,000,000 KRW from Hyundai Card and 1,237,000,000 KRW from Hyundai Commercial, respectively.

Among current financial group chairmen in the banking sector, Ham Young-joo, chairman of Hana Financial Group, received the highest compensation. Chairman Ham earned 1,079,000,000 KRW, including a salary of 369,000,000 KRW and a bonus of 709,000,000 KRW.

Former vice chairman Ji Sung-kyu received a total of 542,000,000 KRW, including a salary of 117,000,000 KRW, a bonus of 283,000,000 KRW, and retirement pay of 141,000,000 KRW. Park Sung-ho, president of Hana Bank, received 664,000,000 KRW (salary 349,000,000 KRW + bonus 315,000,000 KRW).

Sohn Tae-seung, chairman of Woori Financial Group, received a total of 774,000,000 KRW, which includes a salary of 425,000,000 KRW and a bonus of 349,000,000 KRW.

Yoon Jong-kyu, chairman of KB Financial Group, received 650,000,000 KRW (salary 450,000,000 KRW + bonus 200,000,000 KRW). Lee Jae-geun, president of KB Kookmin Bank, received a total of 839,000,000 KRW, including a salary of 350,000,000 KRW and a bonus of 482,000,000 KRW. Executive Vice President Lim Pil-gyu received 572,000,000 KRW (salary 130,000,000 KRW + bonus 438,000,000 KRW).

Yoon Ho-young, CEO of KakaoBank, received 704,000,000 KRW in the first half, combining a salary of 216,000,000 KRW and a bonus of 488,000,000 KRW. Kim Kwang-ok, deputy CEO of KakaoBank, received 783,000,000 KRW (salary 185,000,000 KRW + bonus 598,000,000 KRW).

Compensation for Cho Yong-byeong, chairman of Shinhan Financial Group; Sohn Byung-hwan, chairman of NH Nonghyup Financial Group; Jin Ok-dong, president of Shinhan Bank; and Lee Won-duk, president of Woori Bank, did not meet the disclosure threshold (500 million KRW) and thus were not publicly disclosed.

Despite the stock market downturn in the first half of this year, many executives in the securities industry received tens of billions of KRW in compensation. An Jae-wan, executive director of Meritz Securities, earned a total of 4,658,140,000 KRW in the first half alone, making him the 'highest-paid' employee excluding CEOs in the financial sector. His compensation included a salary of 50,000,000 KRW, a bonus of 1,704,550,000 KRW, other labor income of 1,137,780,000 KRW, and retirement income of 1,729,810,000 KRW, pushing his total compensation into the 4 billion KRW range.

Executive Director An's compensation exceeds twice that of the company's Vice Chairman Choi Hee-moon (2,082,240,000 KRW), President Kim Ki-hyung (2,233,250,000 KRW), and Executive Vice President Yeo Eun-seok (2,132,360,000 KRW).

Several employees also earned more than 2 billion KRW. These include Bang Chang-jin, executive director of Korea Investment & Securities (3,217,960,000 KRW); Choi Yong-seok, executive director of Hanwha Investment & Securities (2,626,000,000 KRW); Ahn Jae-woo, managing director of BNK Investment & Securities (2,622,000,000 KRW); Lee Chung-han, department head at NH Investment & Securities (2,236,000,000 KRW); Lim Ik-sung, managing director of BNK Investment & Securities (2,184,000,000 KRW); Ahn Seok-cheol, head of Shinhan Financial Investment (executive director) (2,139,000,000 KRW); Kim Chan-il, managing director of Mirae Asset Securities (2,001,400,000 KRW); and Bae Young-gyu, executive director of Korea Investment & Securities (2,019,610,000 KRW).

Except for employees of Mirae Asset Securities and Korea Investment & Securities, all of these employees received higher compensation in the first half than their respective company CEOs.

Kang Jung-gu, branch manager at Samsung Securities, who was noted as the 'highest-paid' in the securities industry last year with an annual salary of 6,855,000,000 KRW, received 1,982,000,000 KRW in compensation for the first half of this year.