New President Cho Yong-byung of Shinhan Bank. 

President Cho Yong-byung speaks at his inauguration ceremony on March 18 at Shinhan Bank head office in Seoul.(Photos:Shinhan Bank)

New President Cho Yong -byung of Shinhan Bank said in  a meeting with media folllowing his inauguration ceremony on March 18, said he will strive to make the bank a leader in the online payment settlement market in close cooperation with ICT firms to create new financial opportunities by focusing on the fintech in the bank's operation. Cho also said he will try to import revolutionary banking services from abroad in tie-up with global ICT firms. The bank will develop revolutionary banking services highly convenient for the customers to use and seek new banking businesses in cooperation with corporate customers with the fintech being the major area for competitiion among the banks. He will also focus on solidifying the overseas operations while he is the CEO of Shinhan Bank.

Sinhan Financial Holding Co. Affiliate Management Committee named Cho, 57, president of Shinhan BNP Parisbas Asset Management Co., as the new president of Shinhan Bank, a major affiliate of the Shinhan Financial Group. The announcement was made Feb. 24.  

The president was formally appointed at a shareholders’ meeting on March 18 for a two-year term, a year shorter than the normal term, to coincide with Chairman Han Dong-woo’s official term, which expires in two years. 

Chairman Han was reported to have decided on Cho because he is free from the two conflicting sides, which is being looked at meaningful by sources close to Shinhan Bank. He wanted to take care of the aftermath left over from the feud with the non-aligned Cho. That way he will be able to take care of the bank’s problems free of the influences of his predecessor and former president.

The president is from Daejeon and is a graduate from Korea University. He entered Shinhan Bank in 1984 and came up through rank and file, having held such important positions as the personnel department manager, planning department manager, manager of the New York branch in 1992 and again in 2007 and rising to vice president in 2011. He was appointed as president of Shinhan BNP Parisbas Asset Management in 2012.

Inside the bank, there are high expectations for Cho. A branch manager said he is highly regarded by those inside the bank as an expert in international finance and also a man with a fine temperament. They think Cho’s appointment is within the bank’s tradition to have a marketing expert to lead the bank as the CEO.

They think that the new CEO faces many tasks ahead, particularly with the bank’s rivals such as Hana Bank and Woori Bank having new CEOs. Cho should run the bank to be a leader among them. They also feel that the bank needs new growth engines to get ahead of its rivals after a soul-searching analysis to reconfirm the bank’s capacity to create profit as large as it had last year, topping 2 trillion won.