With the heads of KakaoBank and Kbank both winning new terms and continuing in office, attention is also turning to whether Toss Bank CEO Lee Eun-mi, whose term ends at the end of next month, will be reappointed. Lee took office as Toss Bank CEO in Mar. 2024 and led the bank to its first profit that year. However, there has also been criticism that the bank fell short in internal control and consumer protection, including failing to respond properly to an internal employee's embezzlement case.
According to the financial sector on the 24th, the Toss Bank Nominating Committee plans to finalize a shortlist of candidates for the next CEO within this month. The candidate selection process is said to be in its final stages.
The industry sees a high chance that Lee will be reappointed. In 2024, Lee's first year as CEO, Toss Bank posted an annual net profit of 45.7 billion won, marking its first time in the black. Cumulative net profit for the first to third quarters last year was a record 81.4 billion won.
An industry official said, "Given the uncertainty from market conditions and various regulations, there is a tendency not to change the top executive when results are clear, in consideration of management stability and continuity."
However, there is criticism that while the company grew rapidly, it underperformed in internal control and consumer protection. After two embezzlements in May and June last year by the Head of Team in the finance organization totaling 2.78 billion won, the industry noted that this "laid bare the system's loopholes."
Toss Bank failed to recognize the embezzlement for two weeks after the first crime on May 30. It confirmed the embezzlement through its internal monitoring system only after a second crime occurred two weeks later on June 13. The bank then tried to locate the employee, but the employee had died, and with criminal prosecution rights extinguished, part of the embezzled funds was never recovered.
In December last year, the Financial Supervisory Service conducted an assessment of Toss Bank's financial consumer protection. This review is usually carried out every three years, but due to the embezzlement case, Toss Bank's assessment was unusually moved up by a year. The result was the lowest grade, "poor." Kbank, which was evaluated at the same time, received an "average" grade.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) pointed out, "Toss Bank's dedicated consumer protection staff did not keep pace with the growth in the number of customers and transaction volume, and the KPI structure for executives and employees was designed around performance and topline growth. There were areas where the focus on performance growth led to neglect in building customer service and protection systems."