Woori Bank Abruptly Replaces Global Group Head... Revitalizing Personnel Shakeup for a Fresh Start

Foreign Exchange Group Leader Transferred... Existing Global Group Leader Assigned as Investigator

Woori Bank made a one-point personnel change on the 29th, replacing the head of the Global Group due to poor performance.

On the same day in the afternoon, Woori Bank transferred former Foreign Exchange Group Head Ryu Hyung-jin to the position of Global Group Head. Yoon Seok-mo, who had been leading the existing Global Group as Executive Vice President, was reassigned to the HR (Human Resources) Group as an investigator. Additionally, Kwak Hoon-seok, former Head of Corporate Sales Headquarters, was promoted to the now-vacant Foreign Exchange Group Head position, and Jo Byung-san, Head of Headquarters, was assigned to concurrently serve as Head of Headquarters 1 & 2 Corporate Sales Headquarters.

Woori Bank, Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

This unusual one-point executive personnel change, made just three months after the regular personnel reshuffle in December last year, was explained by Woori Bank as necessary due to the need to reorganize the global division. This decision was based on the assessment that among Woori Bank’s three core strategies this year?corporate finance, asset management, and global?the global division’s performance improvement was insufficient, and there was a need to revitalize the sales atmosphere.

Internally, Woori Bank views the corporate finance division as showing a clear recovery in terms of asset growth rate and sales momentum, and the asset management division as improving customer perception and boosting sales vitality while minimizing the impact of the Hong Kong H-Index equity-linked securities (ELS) incident. In contrast, the global division, which had maintained a leading position among domestic banks until recently, has been criticized for relatively poor growth and profitability compared to the advances of competitors.

A Woori Bank official described this personnel change as a "renewal-type personnel move for a fresh start," adding, "We appointed the former Foreign Exchange Group Head, who has proven expertise and strong leadership in international finance and overseas sales, as the new Global Group Head."