New Woori Bank President Lee Kwang-goo said as he officially took over the top job on Dec. 31, 2014, "I would like to see Woori Bank double its profits in the next two years and go after M&As in Southeast Asian countries, so that the sale of Woori Bank would be easier under the government’s privatization plan for the bank in the new year.”
The 49th president and CEO of Woori Bank, who was promoted to head the bank when he was the vice president at the end of last year, pledged to complete its privatization in line with government plans, within his term.
“My foremost mission is to find an owner of the bank in a way that the government has judged as the best and right,” Lee said at a press conference following his inauguration at the bank’s headquarters in central Seoul.
The plan to privatize Woori Bank has faced major setbacks since its inception. The bank has so far failed to attract majority or minority investors at the government’s set price.
As bank president, Lee has set a goal of reaching 15 trillion won in healthy assets by the end of next year. “My principle for increasing assets is to raise consumer demand and meet their needs,” Lee said. “I won’t strategically expand loans for small businesses or households, which could possibly lead to bad debt. Given the current situation, it is not too bold a goal to achieve.”
Lee has set a major goal of expanding the proportion of overseas business from the current 6 percent to 10 percent.
“It is a general trend in the financial industry that financial institutions go abroad in order to make up for falling profits in the domestic market,” Lee said. “Woori Bank will focus on the global retail business to do so. Vietnam will be the second overseas market after Indonesia, where Woori Bank is currently working.”
Like many of its counterparts, Woori Bank plans to jump into “fintech,” a new field that refers to technology and finance.
Lee’s plan to make the bank stronger includes the creation of a proper corporate culture, the competitive strength of the bank stronger, and expansion of the bank’s global operation so the bank and its affiliates’ assets increase by more than 30 trillion won over the next two years.
A plan to expand the bank’s assets includes calls for an increase in credit loans to individual borrowers and the refinancing loans, citing successes of Wells Fargo Bank and the Handelsbanken in Switzerland as models. Their strengths have been to focus on retail banking to save resources and use them for M&As if proper targets appear in the market.
The new CEO also said he will steer the bank to intensify its M&As in Southeast Asia, particularly with the Indonesian financial authorities approving the merger of its local subsidiary in Jakarta and Saudara Bank. That gives Woori Bank 111 branches across that nation.
He singled out a number of countries abroad where he might find the next M&As, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Lee also said the bank would not have to raise service fees to increase profits, as the overseas operations would be raised to around 10 percent of the total profit of the bank from the current 6 percent
Lee pointed out that fintech would be a new area it will focus on heavily to the extent that the bank may set up an internet bank and lead the online settlement market. A task force within the bank will be launched this year. In the first quarter of this year, the bank will push for strategic tie-ups with a number of financial institutions such as securities, insurance and asset management firms for synergy with Samsung Securities and Mirae Asset Securities being the most likely targets.
