New Chairman and CEO Yim Jong-yong of NH Financial Group speaks during his inauguration 

ceremony on June 11 at the head office of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation in Seoul. 

  Chairman and CEO Yim Jong-yong of Nonghyup Financial Group was officially inaugurated in a ceremony on June 11 at the head office of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation in Seoul. NH Central Cooperatives in Seoul. He said in his inaugural speech that he will see that the financial group will cooperate closely with the NH Central Cooperatives, a major shareholder of the financial group, to secure the best performance results for the group in the coming years. In doing so, he will do his best to ward off any outside interference in the management of the financial group to protect its rights to manage its own affairs independently. 

What he meant by this was that the rights of the NH Central Cooperatives will be respected, but he will make sure that the financial group will have a free hand in boosting its profits and securing its financial health. His predecessor, Shin Dong-kyu, resigned complaining of excessive interference by the NH Central Cooperatives in the management of the financial group, including NH Bank and NH Securities Co., among others.

The new chairman pointed out that the first task is to settle down the financial group’s operations, as it is only a year old and a long way from establishing its position in the financial industry in Korea. 

He also said he will have to find out the exact roles and functions that the NH financial holding company should play in managing the group’s affiliates. He said he knows that the financial group should secure its health by advancing its risk management structure and make the group a top financial institution by boosting the professionalism of its staff. He also called for the creation of an operational culture designed to foster its core capacities for hiking its profitability and becoming a trustworthy Nonghyup to its customers by building sound IT systems and using them to provide the best services to its customers. 

The new chairman, 54, headed the Prime Minister’s Office before he was named on June 6 to take over the current position by the Chairman Recommendation Board of NH Financial Holdings Co. 

Born in Posung, South Jeolla Province, Yim is a graduate of Yonsei University with a degree in economics, as well as a master’s degree at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, in the United States, and Seoul National University.

He entered government service and rose as high as the second vice minister of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance after serving in a number of important positions at the ministry, including deputy minister for planning and chief of the Economic Policy Bureau, before moving to head the Prime Minister’s Office.

Having served in the economics and the financial affairs sectors of the government for a long time, he is considered the right person to take over the NH Financial Group and his warm and friendly personality is expected to be a major help in keeping a close relationship with NH Central Cooperatives, the majority shareholder of the group.

The new chairman, in his statement on the company’s internet homepage, said “Nonghyup was launched in 1961 to contribute to the national economy by improving the social and economic status of farmers. Its credit line business, in particular, has grown into our country’s best financial institution with substantial and consistent growth over the last 50 years thanks to our customers’ continuing love.”

He said, “In order to respond proactively to rapidly-changing social, economic, and financial environments, and to offer even better financial services to its customers, Nonghyup made a new start as a financial group in March 2012 in the banking, life insurance, miscellaneous insurance, securities, futures, and asset management sectors.

“NH Financial Group, now poised at a new starting line, is the pride of the Korean financial industry as our country’s only financial firm established with 100 percent domestic and private capital.”

The entire members of NH Financial Group executives and managers raise their arms at a

 photo session during the inauguration ceremony on June 11 for new chairman Yim.(photos on courtesy of NH Financial Group)