By Kim Jae-won
Staff Reporter
Citibank Korea CEO Ha Yung-ku is expected to extend his stay in the post until 2013 after the lender's board of directors decided to recommend him to continue as chief executive at the upcoming shareholders' meeting slated for March 30.
If the recommendation is approved, Ha will end up having served nine years in the top post at the lender since 2004. He worked at Citi for 20 years before taking the post of CEO of Koram Bank from 2001 to 2004.
Park Cheol, CEO of Leading Investment & Securities and Oh Seong-Hwan, professor of economics at Seoul National University ― two current outside directors ― were nominated for another one-year term, while Kim Sung-Eun, professor of Kyung Hee University was nominated as a new outside director who will serve for two years.
In an email sent to its employees ahead of his nomination, Ha said that the lender will pursue a differentiation strategy in the hopes of becoming a leader in the Korean banking industry.
He unveiled the bank's new vision titled ``Different Thinking Different Future, Citi Korea,'' saying, ``As different thinking leads us to a different future, our differentiated strategy will bring us to a brighter future.''
The 56-year-old veteran banker set three policies under the headings ``Client First, One Citi and Our Success.''
``Client First is to pursue the success of Citibank Korea and its employees through the success of its customers. One Citi is to think of our employees as family members, who move toward the same objective. Our Success is to work together for mutual success, with mutual respect and understanding, so that we can create Citi Difference,'' he said.
Ha asked executives and employees to be united under this policy.
``Vision is the direction that an organization moves towards, which is realized only when all executives and employees join forces with a single mind,'' Ha said
He vowed to increase the market share of the lender while keeping customers and shareholders satisfied with different strategies and the best services.
``The business objective is to make profitable growth through global Citi's differentiated and best-in-class financial products and services.
``With maximized synergy of global Citi, it will ultimately improve the satisfaction of customers, shareholders and employees to the greatest extent,'' the CEO said.
Employees of the lender said that they are brainstorming ways to create strategies of differentiation by division.
``We are preparing to report the differentiation strategies. The changing atmosphere is already palpable in the office,'' an employee of the lender said.
Citibank has been active in South Korea for 43 years, especially in corporate banking and cross-border transactions. The subsidiary was created in 2004 when the Seoul branch bought Koram and its nationwide divisions for $2.73 billion.