President-designate Lee Dong-bin of Suhyup Bank. (Photo: NFFC)

Lee Dong-bin, former vice president of Woori Bank, has been nominated as the new president of the Suhyup Bank.

The Bank President Recommendation Committee of Suhyup Bank announced on Oct. 18 that the committee nominated the former vice president of Woori Bank after interviewing a number of candidates for the position, putting an end to the search that went on for six months. 

The nominee will officially assume the position following the board’s approval on Oct. 19 and the shareholders’ approval on Oct. 24 to serve three-year term, which will begin from Oct. 25.

In a phone interview with a local media outlet, the president-designee said he will try to strengthen the health of the Suhyup Bank by reducing bad loans.

Suhyup Bank officials said the president-nominee will do a lot for the stabilization of the bank and boost its competitive edge as the bank celebrates the initial year of operation this year, making good use of his abundant banking experience extending for 35 years, especially, in the area of credit control.

Lee is from Wonju, Gangwon Province, and graduated from Busan University with a management degree. 

He started his banking career with the Commercial Bank of Korea in 1983 and rose to the director in charge of corporate banking. He now is president of Woori P and S, an affiliate of the Woori Bank Group.

He was credited to have played a big part in boosting the health of Woori Bank as the head of corporate banking, especially, in the area of financial restructuring and streamlining bad loans.

The nomination of the new CEO for Suhyup Bank had been stalled, although the bank tried to publicly accept applications two times earlier this year, once in February and the other in March. The National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (NFFC) wanted to have someone from its organization take up the top post in Suhyup Bank, while the government wanted to have a person with government experience be the next CEO. Thus, a stalemate ensued.

They ultimately settled upon a man who is neither from the NFFC nor from government, choosing a president-designee who is from the banking side.

Suhyup Bank will broaden its capital base to 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) and become a mid-tier bank when it separates from the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives on Dec. 1, its CEO said recently.

The semi-policy bank, mainly providing financing and support for the fisheries and maritime industries, has been preparing to launch as a separate subsidiary of the NFFC to meet Basel III capitalization standards.

When the Financial Services Commission announced in 2013 that the regulator would apply new Basel III rules to the local banking sector from 2014, it gave Suhyup Bank a grace period of until Dec. 1, 2017, due to its unique member cooperative structure.

“To meet the Basel III standards, the bank will be split from the NFFC to be able to receive capital from NFFC, member cooperatives and employees. After the separation, NFFC will own a 100 percent stake in Suhyup Bank,” officials of the bank said.

“Our bank will become a mid-tier lender with a 2 trillion won capital base,” he said. For easier comparison, the nation’s top lender Shinhan Bank’s capital base is 7.9 trillion won.