Hana Financial Group said Choi Heung-shik has been named president of the group and Kim Jong-joon was tapped as president of Hana Bank in a reshuffle of its top executives on March 5 following the resignation of Chairman Kim Seung-yu.

Their appointments signify Chairman Kim Jung-tae s intention to secure stable management for the group, as they have been named over a number of more likely candidates for the positions, and they are in their early 50s, which some consider too young for the positions. Reports also said those candidates were favored by the former chairman as he himself admitted in a media meeting that they were “his men.”

Chairman Cho Jung-nam of the Management Development Reimbursement Committee said the appointments were made so that the chairman of the group would have a number of assistants with proven abilities to support him.

Chairman Cho said President Choi has a lot of international banking and financial planning experience, which the chairman lacks, and therefore needs him. Chairman Kim said Choi has been a great help to the group in the area of international finance and strategy as head of the Hana Financial Management Research Institute. He dealt with strategy planning for the group and its external affairs, namely global operation strategies while heading the group s think tank.

Choi, a graduate of Yonsei University, holds a doctorate degree in management from Lille University in Lille, France. He once taught at Yonsei University and has been heading the financial institute since October 2010.

Hana Bank President Kim, on the other hand, is highly regarded for his strong leadership to fight crises and overcome them. He took over Hana Capital in 2009 after the company had incurred operational losses year after year, and he managed to turn the company around in the ensuing years since his takeover. When he took the helm, its project financing outstanding balance totaled 209.8 billion won and the ratio of default at the highest level in the industry stood at 4.6 percent.

Kim recalled that former CEOs were too hasty to boost their management results and he had to work bloody hard to solve the situation. Three years after his takeover, the company s project financing balance came down to 38.6 billion won at the end of 2011 and net profit rose to 43.4 billion won from a loss of 17 billion won at the end of 2009.

Kim said what he can do now is help Chairman Kim make the group among the 50 best financial groups in the world by doing his utmost on the job. A graduate of Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, he held various posts at Hana Bank including vice president in charge of corporate banking and later in charge of household banking. He was also manager of the bank s Samsung Center Branch in Seocho-dong, Seoul. Reports said chairman Kim personally picked Kim to head the bank so that he can still wield power at the bank.

Both Choi and Kim will be formally installed in their new positions following the approval of their appointments at the shareholders  meeting later this month.