With nominee Lee Jae-geun, head of the KB Financial Group(105560) institutional sector division, tapped as the next chairman, a major personnel shake-up is expected to hit KB Financial Group at year-end. This year, the terms of 10 affiliate chief executive officers (CEOs) are set to expire.
On Sept. 14, nominee Lee, arriving for work at the new building of KB Financial Group in Yeouido, Seoul, met with reporters and said about the year-end affiliate CEO appointments, "I will proceed by considering who can lead employees' dedication based on capability and expertise, not limited by age." Lee also said, "A generational shift means making decisions quickly and responsibly rather than focusing on age." It is interpreted to mean there will not be a personnel overhaul based solely on age.
However, in financial circles, because the KB Financial Group Chairman Candidate Recommendation Committee emphasized a generational shift as the backdrop for its "surprise selection" of Lee, the prevailing view is that a large-scale reshuffle of CEOs and executives reflecting this will be carried out at year-end.
Born in 1966, nominee Lee is relatively young. In the industry, there is also talk that those older than Lee or candidates who competed for the next chairman post may voluntarily step down. When Chairman Yang Jong-hee took office earlier, former Vice Chair Heo In and former Vice Chair Lee Dong-chul, who had been on the shortlist for succession, both stepped down voluntarily.
KB Financial Group has three institutional sector heads including nominee Lee, and the other two are both older than Lee. KB Kookmin Bank President Lee Hwan-ju; KB Securities wealth management (WM) division head Lee Hong-gu; and KB Real Estate Trust CEO Sung Chae-hyun are also older than Lee.
At the end of this year, five executives—KB Kookmin Bank President Lee Hwan-ju; KB Kookmin Card CEO Kim Jae-gwan; KB Life Insurance CEO Jeong Moon-chul; KB Investment CEO Yoon Beop-ryeol; and KB Data Systems CEO Park Chan-yong—will complete their first terms. Five incumbent CEOs in consecutive terms—CEO Lee Hong-gu; KB Insurance CEO Koo Bon-uk; KB Asset Management CEO Kim Young-seong; KB Capital CEO Bin Jung-il; and CEO Sung Chae-hyun—also see their terms end at the year's close.
The fate of Bank President Lee Hwan-ju is expected to be the first personnel test of the "Lee Jae-geun system." Lee was picked by Chairman Yang Jong-hee at the end of 2024 to move from KB Life Insurance CEO to KB Kookmin Bank president. Since taking office, Lee has delivered clear achievements, including retaking the leading bank position and setting record earnings.
When nominee Lee was appointed the youngest KB Kookmin Bank president in 2021, there were not a few senior executives within the bank. At the time, Personal Customer Group deputy president Sung Chae-hyun; Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Customer Group deputy president Kim Un-tae; corporate and investment banking (CIB) Customer Group deputy president Woo Sang-hyun; and Capital Markets Group deputy president Kim Young-gil all completed their terms and stepped down in sequence.