President Kim Won-kyu of the NH Investment and Securities Co. went through an earth-shaking change in the securities industry in 2014, when NH Financial Group took over Woori Investment and Securities and merged it with NH Securities to launch NH Investment and Securities. It became the largest securities firm in the country in terms of assets with combined assets totaling 42.6 trillion won. Capital came to 4.4 trillion won.
The birth of the big securities firm was big news in itself, but what followed was even more surprising, which was naming Kim President — then-CEO of Woori Investment and Securities — before takeover taking over the CEO of the new securities firm, to calm down the wild rumors who will be named as the manager of the new securities firm, the biggest in the country.
The industry reacted favorably to the appointment, saying that Kim is enormously qualified to lead the biggest securities firm in Korea, as his managerial abilities involve bringing people together in harmony, which is the kind of talent needed for the securities firm born out of the merger of two securities firms.
So far his management record in running the securities firm has been known to be excellent in bringing together the staff of the two different securities firms, first and foremost. He made the list of the 100 best CEOs in Korea this year. He has an illustrious career working for securities firms for over 30 years. In 1985 he joined Lucky Securities and stayed with them all the while after graduating from the University of Ulsan in Daegu.
Among the many securities CEOs, Kim has been known for his generosity. In 2013, the financial supervisory authority was about to penalize the Woori Investment and Securities for violation of the financial laws in handling the sale of LIG Construction Co.’s promissory notes. Kim, as the CEO, said the authorities should punish him only, not the company, taking full responsibility for the possible wrong-doing of the company. Kim’s move won him great admiration from his peers in the industry.
Kim has not been working for the securities firms with his generosity alone. He had to work hard to get where he is. He held various positions before rising to CEO, including stints as manager of the wholesale department and the corporate business of LG Securities and Woori investment and Securities Co., respectively. His experience in the various departments of securities firms has been very useful for him in making NH Investment Securities a leader in the IB sector dealing with corporate bond issuances, capital increase and initial public offerings in the traditional corporate finance sector.
For the first time, the company issued EB (exchangeable bonds) for Korea Gas Corp. in Korea and handled the IPOs for GS Construction and the Cuckoo Electronics. NH I&S also became the first in the industry to design the derivative products on credit as well as leading the handling of interest-rate structured financial products.
Kim is also known for his passion to find young talented personnel for his company, saying that they are the most valuable assets as they will take charge of the company in the future.
He boasts that the company has an excellent network of personnel to handle its financial products, which ranges from RP, ARS and ELS, and others including replacement investment products overseas, providing a truly wide range of financial services to boost the customers’ satisfaction with the company’s financial products and services.
CEO Kim has been known to lead the company to work for its vision, “A Securities Firm That Leads the Capital Market,” to boost the company’s ability to seek new growth engines and take advantage of the two merged securities firms’ investment banking capacities for wholesale deals, sharpening the company’s competitive edge in the sector, while upgrading the asset management capacity by operating branches jointly with NH Bank, the banking affiliate of the NACF (National Agricultural Cooperatives Federation).
