Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Sohn drives Woori's global recognition
By Kim Bo-eun
Woori Financial Group Chairman Sohn Tae-seung / Courtesy of Woori Financial Group
By Kim Bo-eun
Woori Financial Group has managed to attract more foreign investors and see growth of earnings from Asia this year, under Chairman Sohn Tae-seung's reign.
Sohn assumed his position as chairman when Woori became a financial holding company in January. He has doubled as the bank's CEO, a position he took in December 2017.
Sohn has actively sought to meet investors overseas. In May he traveled to Japan and Hong Kong, and in October the Middle East and the U.S.
The percentage of Woori's foreign investors has grown to 31 percent in November from 27.3 percent in January. The other three financial groups all saw their foreign ownership fall in the same period.
More foreigners appear to have invested in Woori based on their expectations of the group's growth, as it actively seeks M&As to strengthen its non-banking units.
This year, Woori acquired ABL Global Asset Management, Tongyang Asset Management and Kukje Asset Trust, a real estate management company. It also bought shares of Lotte Card.
It recorded an 11.3 percent return on equity (ROE) in the third quarter of this year, which is the greatest among the four financial groups.
Meanwhile, Woori has also seen growth in earnings coming from subsidiaries in Asia.
Woori's accumulated net profit for Southeast Asia and Southwest Asia this year stood at 86 billion won, ($74 million), a 36 percent surge from the same period a year earlier.
WB Finance, Woori's commercial financial service provider in Cambodia, recorded 4.8 billion won in net profit for the first half of the year. WB Finance was established after Woori acquired VisionFund Cambodia in June 2018.
Woori Bank's Dhaka branch in Bangladesh saw its net profit jump to 6.9 billion won in the first half of his year from 4.6 billion won in the same period in 2016.
Woori Bank's subsidiary in Vietnam saw its accumulated net profit in the third quarter come down to 10.1 billion won. Based on this figure, the Vietnam subsidiary is set to exceed last year's annual earnings which stood at 10.7 billion won.
Woori's accumulated earnings from its overseas subsidiaries for the third quarter of this year grew to 178 billion won, a 22 percent growth from the same period a year earlier. This is exceeds 10 percent of the group's total earnings.
At this rate, Woori is expected to make over 200 billion won in global earnings this year.