Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo of the KB Financial Group gives a speech at a recent meeting. (Photo: KB Financial)

The personnel management system at KB Financial Group has become the center of attention now that Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, a career man at Kookmin Bank, has been designated to run the group, sources close to the financial group said recently.

For years, the top jobs at the financial group went to people other than those who spent their entire careers there via what is known as the “parachute personnel system,” with some highly-placed persons in the financial authorities pulling the strings to give “their men” the top jobs at state-owned firms.  The new chairman feels he will have to show leadership is not easily shaken by bureaucratic, as well as union, meddling in        personnel matters.

Chairman Yoon will soon be tested over whether or not he will push for a new personnel system in the selection of Kookmin Bank’s next president, the largest affiliate of the financial group. He has been known to have said the new president of the bank will be on the board of the directors, an indication that he will hold more power than his predecessor —Yim Yong-rok. He barred the former president of the bank from sitting on the board, restricting his power. 

Yoon has been heard saying that the chairman has the responsibility to train his successor by setting up a system so that a career man from the bank would be able to succeed him as chairman, protecting the system from “outside winds.”

Securities industry sources welcomed the selection of Yoon by the board, including outside directors who exercised their rights without yielding to pressure in voting for a new chairman with no political connections. Encouraged by the news, the stock market reacted favorably by boosting the group’s shares by 1.56 percent to 39,100 won per share. They expect that the new chairman will take care of the uncertainty of the management system of the group, particularly at the bank, and the risks for the CEO as well. 

These are all positive reactions for the new chairman and the selection process.

Now attention is focused on the reform of the board of the group, especially as to its composition. Many are criticizing the board for the tumultuous incident involving group Chairman and President Lee Kun-ho, former CEO of the bank. Both the chairman and the president resigned.

Many in and outside the group presume that the board will decide what its next move might be after a meeting on Dec. 29 for the approval of the new chairman designate.

Some prominent financial figures have said Yoon is the choice, a career KB man, in the hope that he may decide to let them remain as members of the board as he knows many of them personally.

It’s about time that board members should make known their next move, they said.