Kwon Seon-joo, the senior executive vice president of the Industrial Bank of Korea, has taken over as the CEO of the state-run IBK on Dec. 27
She is the first female president of a bank in Korea as she was officially installed to head the IBK on Dec. 27, last year. At her inauguration on Dec. 30 at the IBK's head office in downtown Seoul, she said she would like to stick with the basics of operating the banks.She will not take up management policies for the bank's growth unless they are sure to make profits. She will check every nook and corner of the bank's operation to make sure that they are effective and well managed. Management of branch outlets, personnel assigment, and the expenditure of expenses are some of the areas that the bank should check under her management. She will also strengthen the bank's provision of loans to SMEs as the IBK's core business is to help those SMEs so that they would continue to grow to be large business firms.
She saId she will also look for new sources of earnings under the Creative Finance, which means breaking out of the old molds of banking and find ways of growth through new growth engines.
CEO Kwon said she will see the bank to expand its loans to cultural contents and venture business firms, while systematizing and strengthening the financial system for the development of technologies and intellectual property rights.
“We believe that Kwon is well qualified as the country’s first female CEO of IBK, which she has demonstrated through her risk management skills,” the FSC said in a statement, citing her contributions to “upgrading IBK’s financial health and potential support of the government’s Creative Economy drive.”
Kwon, 57, joined IBK in 1978, after graduating from Yonsei University as an English major. IBK officials welcomed her appointment by saying the president-designate has a “gentle character and excellent work ethic.”
In 1998 she was promoted to head the Bangi-dong branch in southeastern Seoul, and has held various important positions in IBK’s operation units such as credit, risk management, credit card and the IBK customer protection center.
“Back in the days when (Kwon) entered the bank, it was part of the traditional Korean culture to have a married woman quit her job and look after the household,” a local bank official said.
“Now that female participation at work has increased significantly, we are expecting to see more female executives in the future,” he added.
And yet the country has seen calls for more female leaders in the financial sector, even from within its financial institutions.
“I think the degree of advancement of a financial firm is seen as whether or not it has a female executive,” said a senior official of the Korea Exchange, the country’s main bourse.
Western countries have many women holding high posts, he said, suggesting that greater opportunities for female staff indicate an advanced corporate environment as more important than temporarily high earnings.
“I’ll focus on balancing various values that a bank should pursue,” she said. “A bank needs to grow, make profits, maintain financial health and take social responsibility. Finding balance among them, I’ll try to make a system for the bank’s sustainable development.”
She said it is important to form a social atmosphere to encourage women’s participation in the workforce. She is expected to help improve systems and education within the bank to give female workers more diverse job positions in fields like corporate banking, foreign exchange and investment banking.
Kwon will be the second to be promoted to CEO at the bank after beginning a career there as a junior worker, following the first one, current CEO Cho Jun-hee, whose term ended on Dec. 27.
It was rumored that a former bureaucrat at financial authorities might come to take the post.
“Criticism erupted that outsiders unfamiliar with the field are appointed as heads of state-run organizations. It seems the commission considered the criticism and picked Kwon,” a banking industry watcher said.
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