Lee Won-duk to Take Helm of Woori Bank as New President in March

Lee Won-duk to take office as new president of Woori Bank

Lee Won-duk, senior vice president of Woori Financial Group, has been tapped as the next Woori Bank president.

Analysts say that Lee is the right person to improve the vitality and management stability of Woori Bank, such as injecting fresh vitality into the bank after its complete privatization.

According to Woori Financial Group on Feb. 7, the Affiliate CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee exclusively recommended Senior Vice President Lee as a candidate for the new Woori Bank president.

“Candidate Lee successfully served as a managing director of the Future Financial Team and head of the Management Planning Group at Woori Bank and is in charge of major key business strategies, finance, mergers and acquisitions, digital services and funds as a senior vice president of Woori Financial Group,” said an official at the Affiliate CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee.

“The Affiliate CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee highly evaluated Lee’s experience as chairman of the group’s Digital Innovation Subcommittee, as platform competitiveness will become a key competitive factor in the future,” the official explained.

“Lee was considered the best person to bring new vitality and stronger management stability to Woori Bank after its complete privatization.”

Woori Financial Group appointed Yoon In-seop and Shin Yo-hwan as its new outside directors in a general shareholders’ meeting on Jan. 27.

After forming a committee within the board of directors, including new directors, the board of directors completed the selection of the candidate after meetings by the Affiliate CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee.

Another term was given to Kim Jong-deuk, CEO of Woori Investment Bank, Lee Chang-jae, CEO of Woori Asset Trust, Koh Young-bae, CEO of Woori Fund Services and Kim Kyung-woo, CEO of Woori Private Equity Asset Management in the meeting.

Woori Bank executives Lee Joong-ho and Ko Jung-hyun were newly recommended as candidates for the new heads of Woori Credit Information and Woori FIS.

The Affiliate CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee explained that after the group’s long-sought complete privatization, it selected candidates with the ability to enhance the vitality and competitiveness of the bank through an organizational reform, and at the same time drive the growth of the bank based on stable management.

“We will push for a personnel reform and promotions of talented young employees to transform Woori Bank into a dynamic organization in the future,” the official added.

“We decided to actively operate the CEO Succession Program to boldly exclude academic ties, regional relations and requests or pressure from the outside.”

The final candidates recommended by the Affiliate CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee will be finally appointed at a general shareholders’ meeting after the verification of their qualifications and suitability.

Woori Financial Group’s board of directors discussed ways to nominate female experts in the fields of law and environment, society, and governance (ESG) as outside director candidates at the general shareholders’ meeting to be held in March.

In the meantime, Woori Bank held the management strategy meeting for the first half of 2022 to have a deep discussion on the growth of the bank.

“We will break our business framework as a bank and boldly shift to a customer-centered financial platform company,” said Kwon Kwang-seok, president of the bank, in a non-face-to-face management strategy meeting for the first half of 2022 using the Zoom service on Jan. 21.

“The only everlasting principle to success is to meet customer needs and make customers happy.”

Kwon suggested three key tasks to make Woori Bank a No. 1 financial platform company: strengthening the power of the bank’s platform, sharpening its competitiveness in the main business and expanding the foundation for sustainable growth.

President Kwon reiterated the importance of digital strategies this year following his focus on “digital first, digital initiatives” at the management strategy meeting in the second half of last year.

“It is an era of the survival of the fittest where only quick-witted people can survive,” Kwon said.

“We need to boost our sales competitiveness to lay the foundation for solid profit generation and growth,” Kwon continued.

“Let’s create great history with the successful completion of digital transformation, channel advancement and the enhancement of our competitiveness.”

Woori Financial Group’s headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. (Photos: Woori Financial Group)