With KB Financial Group set to decide its next chair candidate on the 11th, attention is on whether the incumbent, KB Financial Group Chair Yang Jong-hee, will win another term.
According to the financial sector on the 9th, the KB Financial Group Chair Candidate Recommendation Committee plans to conduct in-depth interviews on the 11th with three people — Chair Yang from the candidate pool, Lee Jae-geun, KB Financial Group head of division, and external candidate Kwon Kwang-seok, former Woori Bank president — before confirming one final candidate.
Earlier, the KB Financial Group committee advanced the chair succession process by more than a month compared with previous years, beginning in June, and extended the overall evaluation period to more than three months. On the 27th of last month, it conducted in-depth interviews with six candidates for the next chair and narrowed the field to three final candidates.
KB Financial Group entered the "5 trillion club" for the first time in 2024 and posted 584.3 billion won in net profit last year, logging net profit in the 5 trillion won range for a second straight year. In the first half of this year, it recorded 3.8846 trillion won in net profit, up 13.1% from a year earlier, setting a new half-year record. This raises the likelihood of another term for Yang.
Among the rival candidates, Lee built experience in finance, strategy, and sales, serving as group chief financial officer at the holding company, head of bank management planning group (executive director), and head of the sales group (deputy president), before serving as KB Kookmin Bank president. Kwon, the only external candidate, is seen as someone who can drive renewal. He has experience across banking and capital markets, having served as head of Woori Private Equity (PE), head of credit and insurance at the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives (KFCC), and Woori Bank president.
Once a single candidate for the next chair is confirmed, the person will undergo eligibility screening, be recommended by the committee and the board on the 2nd of next month, and be appointed as the next chair at an extraordinary shareholders meeting in November. Yang's current term runs through Nov. 20.