Shinhan chairman likely to serve another term
Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung
By Park Jae-hyuk
Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung is highly likely to serve another three-year term, considering the nation's largest banking group is in a hurry to finish selecting candidates for the next leader, according to industry officials, Sunday.
The group said its board of directors convened the chairman recommendation committee last Tuesday.
The committee members include Korea University professor Lee Man-woo, Jeju Girl's School Foundation CEO Kim Hwa-nam, former Bank of Korea Deputy Governor Park Chul, VIG Partners senior adviser Byeon Yang-ho, Sungkyunkwan University Law School professor Sung Jae-ho, BNP Paribas Securities Japan CEO Philippe Avril and Primer Korea CEO Yuki Hirakawa.
During the meeting, they reportedly listed potential candidates, after discussing schedules and procedures for selecting the next chairman.
Given that Cho has yet to turn 70, he is supposed to be on the list, along with CEOs of the group's six major subsidiaries ― Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Card, Shinhan Investment, Shinhan Life and Shinhan BNP Paribas Asset Management.
Former Shinhan Bank CEO Wi Sung-ho and several other former and incumbent executives are also presumed to be on the list of candidates.
Industry officials expect the recommendation committee to draw up a shortlist by mid-December, because the incumbent chairman will attend a sentencing hearing Dec. 18.
Cho was indicted on charges of hiring underqualified applicants because of their ties to influential people, such as politicians and ranking bureaucrats.
The recommendation committee is expected to hold the final meeting Dec. 13 to select him as the sole candidate. If the committee draws up a shortlist, the chairman will be selected at the general meeting of shareholders in March 2020.
“Chairman Cho has been recognized by the board members for taking over Orange Life Insurance during his first term and reclaiming the leading bank title from KB Financial Group,” a bank industry official said on condition of anonymity. “The forthcoming sentencing hearing can be a variable, but the board members seem to support Cho in accordance with the presumption of innocence.”
Shinhan said it will announce the final candidates for the chairmanship as soon as the recommendation committee makes its independent decision.
Shinhan Financial Group posted a net income of 981.6 billion won in the third quarter, bringing the figure for the first nine months of the year to 2.89 trillion won, up 9.6 percent from a year ago. KB Financial reported net income of 2.77 trillion won for the first three quarters.