Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Will NongHyup Bank CEO clinch third term?
NongHyup Bank CEO Lee Dae-hoon
By Lee Kyung-min
By Lee Kyung-min
NongHyup Bank CEO Lee Dae-hoon is waiting to see if he will be able to clinch a third term, following the recommendation committee meeting held by the bank's holding company this week.
If Lee gets a one-year term extension for the second time, it will be the first time for the subsidiary of NongHyup Financial Group to have the same CEO for three consecutive years.
Lee, who began his first term Jan.1, 2018, was able to clinch a second term December 2018 due mainly to his outstanding performance.
Company rules stipulate the CEO's term can be up to two years following one extension, but they are subject to a performance review every year.
NongHyup Financial will hold up to three more committee meetings this week to deliberate on whether to extend Lee's term.
The committee, comprised of in-house and outside directors as well as non-standing directors, will seek to finalize a decision after last week's meeting failed to narrow 10 candidates down to four for a shortlist.
Lee's major competitors will include NongHyup Property and Casualty Insurance CEO Oh Byoung-kwan, whose two-year term will end in December.
The non-life insurer's net profit stood at 2 billion won ($1.6 million) in 2018, a 92.4 percent plunge from the year before. But the figure for the first nine months of 2019 was 4 billion won, a 42 percent increase year-on-year.
It was a better-than-expected performance given the firm had gone through a slew of adverse business circumstances including a wild fire in Gangwon Province in April and a number of typhoons in the summer.
However, the success of the non-life insurer pales in comparison to the bank which under Lee's leadership posted 1.19 trillion won in net profit in the January-September period, up 27.6 percent from a year earlier.
This accounts for over 85 percent of the 1.39 trillion won net profit logged by the financial group in the same period, up 29.4 percent.
The group's net profit has already surpassed its annual net profit of 1.21 trillion won in 2018.
Lee is also bolstered by the success of digitization, indicated by over 15.6 million users of the bank's mobile app.
Meanwhile, the recommendation committee will also determine the term extensions of CEOs at the group's other major subsidiaries.
They include NongHyup Life Insurance, NongHyup Property & Casualty Insurance and NH Capital.