With Yang Jong-hee KB Financial Group(105560) Financial Group chairman failing to win another term, expectations are rising that a KB-driven generational shift will sweep the financial sector. The terms of 54 CEOs at major financial group affiliates, including the heads of the five major commercial banks, end at the close of this year, and in Feb. next year, Lee Chan-woo, NH NongHyup Financial Group chairman, will also complete a first term. Attention is on whether the bold change and generational turnover emphasized by KB Financial Group, the No. 1 financial company by net profit, will spread as a personnel trend across the sector.
According to the financial sector on the 14th, among the five major financial groups, the number of affiliate CEOs whose terms end at the close of this year, including bank heads, totals 54: ▲KB Financial Group 10 ▲Shinhan Financial Group(055550) 12 ▲Hana Financial Group(086790) 13 ▲Woori Financial Group(316140) 12 ▲NongHyup Financial 7.
NongHyup Financial Group has few precedents of chairmen serving consecutive terms. Since the holding company launched in 2012, only two of seven past chairmen—Kim Yong-hwan and Kim Kwang-soo—served a second term. Former chairmen Son Byung-hwan and Lee Seok-joon each served two years and stepped down.
The terms of the five major commercial bank heads—Lee Hwan-joo of KB Kookmin Bank, Jeong Sang-hyuk of Shinhan Bank, Lee Ho-sung of Hana Bank, Jeong Jin-wan of Woori Bank, and Kang Tae-young of NH NongHyup Bank—all expire on Dec. 31. Except for Jeong Sang-hyuk of Shinhan Bank, the other four took office in Jan. last year and will complete their first two-year terms. Jeong took office in Feb. 2023 and has already been reappointed once, with possibilities ranging from another extension to a move to a holding company institutional sector head role.
Hana Bank has had no reappointments since former president Ham Young-joo (now chairman), but expectations are rising that president Lee Ho-sung could stay on, citing performance and other factors. If replaced, potential successors include Kim Mi-suk, Hana Bank vice president; Seong Young-soo, Hana Card CEO; and Nam Goong-won, Hana Life CEO.
At Woori Bank, sentiment largely favors reappointing president Jeong Jin-wan, citing the consecutive term of Woori Financial Group chairman Yim Jong-ryong and management continuity. NH NongHyup Bank's Kang Tae-young is credited with steering the organization stably, but apart from former president Lee Dae-hoon, there is no precedent for a NongHyup Bank president serving a second term.
In addition, Korea Federation of Banks chairman Cho Yong-byung's three-year term ends on Nov. 30. Potential successors include former KB Financial Group chairman Yoon Jong-kyu, former Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) chief Yoon Jong-won, and former Standard Chartered Bank Korea president Park Jong-bok. At Suhyup Bank, while incumbent president Shin Hak-ki, whose term ends on Nov. 17, is seeking another term, Lee Hyeong-ju, head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), has emerged as a strong contender. Suhyup's president candidate recommendation committee will select the final candidate on the 22nd of this month.