Next Woori Bank President to Be Decided at Board Meeting on the 26th

Im Jong-ryong's 'Management Succession Program' to be Completed Next Week
Shortlist Selection by 25th at the Latest
Announcement of Woori Financial Management Research Institute Director Also Expected

The next Woori Bank president is expected to be decided on the 26th. This will be the first bank president selected through the 'Management Succession Program' introduced under the leadership of Lim Jong-ryong, chairman of Woori Financial Group.

According to the banking sector on the 16th, Woori Financial Group plans to hold a board meeting on the 26th of this month to select the final candidate for the next bank president. Prior to this, the subsidiary CEO candidate recommendation committee will conduct final in-depth interviews and management plan presentations (PT) for the four candidates listed on the longlist.

Woori Financial Group has been proceeding with the selection process for the next Woori Bank president after the current president, Lee Won-duk, expressed his intention to resign in March ahead of the organizational restructuring of Woori Financial Group, to alleviate Chairman Lim’s management burden. Chairman Lim introduced the Management Succession Program as the new bank president selection procedure immediately after his inauguration. The program comprehensively evaluates work performance, reputation, and other factors for a pool of 3 to 4 candidates, with the recommendation committee ultimately deciding on the optimal candidate. This approach aims to ensure objective and transparent personnel decisions through multifaceted verification rather than relying solely on internal discussions within the recommendation committee.

At the end of March, the recommendation committee placed four candidates on the longlist for the next bank president: Lee Seok-tae, head of Woori Bank’s Domestic Sales Division; Kang Shin-guk, head of Woori Bank’s Corporate Investment Banking Division; Park Wan-sik, CEO of Woori Card; and Cho Byung-kyu, CEO of Woori Financial Capital. Lee and Cho are from the commercial banking sector, while Kang and Park are from Hanil Bank.

Currently, in-depth interviews with external experts are being conducted for each candidate and are expected to conclude within this week. Based on the results of these interviews and other evaluations, a shortlist of two candidates is expected to be finalized on the 25th.

At the board meeting on the 26th, the successor to the head of the Woori Financial Research Institute, which was not decided during the organizational restructuring in March, will also be announced. Park Jung-hoon, director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) at the Financial Services Commission, is a leading candidate. Director Park passed the 35th Administrative Examination and has held positions such as head of the Capital Market Investigation Team, head of the Field Support Team, Capital Market Policy Officer, and Planning and Coordination Officer at the Financial Services Commission.