Jongryong Lim, Chairman of Woori Financial Group: "Expanding Non-Banking Operations Is the Top Priority"

Town Hall Meeting with Insurance Executives

Jongryong Lim, Chairman of Woori Financial Group, has indicated plans to increase the proportion of non-banking operations.

Jongryong Lim, Chairman of Woori Financial Group. Photo by Yonhap News

Chairman Lim recently held a town hall meeting at Woori Financial Group headquarters with 74 executives and department heads from Tongyang Life Insurance and ABL Life Insurance. He stated, "Until now, our top priority as a financial group was to build a portfolio, but from now on, expanding the proportion of non-banking operations is our most urgent task."

As a result, there are expectations that Woori Financial Group, which significantly increased its non-banking share through the acquisition of Tongyang Life Insurance and ABL Life Insurance in July, will now actively pursue synergy among its subsidiaries.

In the first half of this year, the net profit of Woori Financial Group was 1.5513 trillion won, with non-banking subsidiaries contributing only about 7% (113.1 billion won). Chairman Lim reportedly emphasized to employees of Tongyang Life Insurance and ABL Life Insurance that, "If the two insurance companies achieve last year's profit level of approximately 400 billion won, the non-banking subsidiary share of Woori Financial Group could rise to 20% this year."

Chairman Lim also urged efforts to ensure this leads to synergy with other Woori Financial Group subsidiaries. He said, "The main reason for the existence of a financial group is to create synergy," and added, "We can link the assets managed by Tongyang Life Insurance and ABL Life Insurance with Woori Asset Management, or use insurance company assets to expand joint group investments."

In particular, the effect of the insurance company acquisitions is already resulting in tangible synergy at bank branches. According to Woori Financial Group, the proportion of Tongyang Life Insurance and ABL Life Insurance product sales at bank branches was only 9.8% in the first half of the year, but rose to 21% after the acquisitions. Chairman Lim stated, "We may also be able to open integrated branches that cover banking, insurance, and securities."