The Woori Financial Group held the second enrollment ceremony for 60 college students to be trained at the Woori Financial Frontier School, the group’s financial training program for college students who want to take up a career in the financial industry. The ceremony took place at the group’s Woori Bank Head Office in Hoehyun-dong, Chung-gu, Seoul, on Jan. 3.

The financial training school is the first to be launched and operated by a financial group in Korea. This year’s class included 60 college juniors and seniors who attended three weeks of training from Jan. 3 to Jan. 23 after passing a grueling admission test.

At the ceremony, Chairman Lee Pal-seung said the school is an incubator for financial experts who will be competitive enough to work in the global financial market, thus making it a stepping-stone for the Korean financial industry to expand its global operations. 

The curricula included an outline of the financial industry and the financial market and the primary functions of each financial sector, its business, the current financial issues, and the macro-economic trends, all designed to boost the students’ understanding and knowledge of the financial industry and financial markets including problems stemming from the global financial crisis and other lessons on how the financial industry works.

Financial experts working in diverse areas of the Woori Financial Group, including those involved in making financial policies and research staff at the Professional Financial Institute, worked as lecturers at the school. Among the subjects taught included strategies for getting a job with a financial institution.

The school admitted 70 college students last year. Most of the seniors who attended the school got a job with financial institutions including two who joined Woori Bank.

On Jan. 9, the Woori Financial Group opened the Woori Financial Management Institute in a ceremony held at State Tower Namsan Building in Toegye-ro, Seoul, led by Chairman Lee Pal-seung and with other leading executives of the group in attendance.

The institute, the 12th affiliate of the group, was first launched in December 2008 as a management office of Woori Financial Holding, and in April 2011 it was expanded and reformed as the management institute and was split off from the holding company and became an independent legal entity on Dec. 26 of the same year. The institute has four offices in charge of research for strategy, financial analysis, macro analysis, and global activity headed by President Hwang Rok and the research director.

It is also a think tank for the financial group, providing assistance in drawing up strategies for the affiliates, global and domestic market analyses, and projections of market moves in support of the group’s balanced portfolio development.

Staff of the institute said, “We will help the group play the role of a leading opinion provider for the financial market through intensive external activities including the contribution of articles, and the holding of lectures, forums, and seminars.”

Responsibilities of each of the four offices of the institute are as follows:

Strategy Research: Conducting research on each affiliate’s management issues as instructed by the CEO of each office.

Financial Analysis: Research on the financial industry, the major financial market issues, and the financial system.

Macro Analysis: Conducting analyses of both overseas and domestic economic trends.

Global Trends: Analyses of international finance and economic systems and trends of the global economy.

Research Control: taking charge of general administrative work, the issuance of research papers, and support through the holding of events.