New Chairman Kim Kwang-soo of NH Financial Group and key executives joined by important guests pose for a group photo session following the inaugural ceremony for the new chairman on April 30 held at the financial group’s head office in Seoul.

Kim Kwang-soo, former chairman of the Financial Intelligence Unit, has been inaugurated as the new chairman of NH Financial Group. The financial group’s Chairman Selection Committee recommended him as the final candidate for the vacant top position at its recent meeting.
The chairman-designee has been officially named to take over the position when the shareholders met on April 23 and approved the recommendation by the financial group’s committee. His office term began on April 28 with the expiry of the former chairman Kim Yong-hwan’s official term.
In his inaugural address on April 30, Chairman Kim said he will lead the financial group to be a “SMART” one through endless reform and to maximize synergy from pan-Nonghyup affiliate with their utmost priority being the trust of the customers. He stressed the financial group’s ultimate role being the generation of stable profits to support farms and agriculture.
In order to play the role as “the profit center” for pan-Nonghyup, he said the group will always maintain its cooperative network with the NH Central Cooperative, mutual finance, and agricultural economy. The foremost key to maintaining the close cooperative network is to build a stable foundation to generate profits, the new chairman said.
He urged every one with the group and its affiliates to make customer trust as the most important value among the values as an employee of the group and its affiliates.
The new chairman also said he will try to reform every segment of the group’s operational processes and old practices and dust off those that are too old inconsistent with the age of SMART. He also said strengthening the competitiveness of the group will become part of every Nonghyup financial man’s work and daily lives.
Before the inaugural ceremony, the new chairman visited the union’s office and told them he will communicate fully with the employees and listen to the voices of the worksites to help solve the problems facing the group wisely. The new chairman returns to the financial industry for the first time in seven years since his resignation as the chairman of a savings bank in 2011.
He is being counted on to move the NH financial group a step up in the development ladder by taking advantage of his background as a financial policy expert having managed a number of key financial policy posts in his career. Over the years, he has worked for the Financial Services Commission and other financial authorities, including the positions supervising the financial institutions including NH Financial Group. Born in Bosung, South Jeolla Province, Kim got his BA from Seoul National University and a doctorate in international economics from the France State Administrative Graduate School in Paris. He passed the 27th National Examination for Public Servants and joined the Economic Planning Board to launch his public servant career.
Financial sources have been paying high-level attention to his comeback in the financial industry as he has been mentioned among the candidates for a number of key financial authorities including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service and the Korea Exchange, among others, but he never made the cut it until now. Many regretted his missed opportunities, calling him the “Tragic Hero,” with no chance to show his true talent to manage financial institutions.

Chairman Kim Kwang-soo delivers his inaugural speech at a ceremony on April 30 at the NH Financial Group’s head office in Seoul.(Photos: NH Financial)