KB Kookmin Bank's Hur Yin set to serve another term

KB Kookmin Bank CEO Hur Yin signs up for a financial product in which the lender collaborated with boy band BTS, at a branch on Yeouido, Seoul, June 21, 2018. / Courtesy of Kookmin Bank

By Kim Bo-eun

KB Financial Group said incumbent KB Kookmin Bank CEO Hur Yin has been selected in a committee meeting Tuesday as the sole candidate for the next chief of the lender.

The group said the committee will interview Hur next month for a final review and his appointment will be approved at a scheduled shareholders' meeting.

Hur will begin his new term on Nov. 21 and it will run through to the end of 2021.

The committee said it took into account Hur's achievements during his term in reviewing his eligibility for another term as CEO.

Hur has also served as Kookmin Bank's head of sales and as CFO, through which he gained experience in sales, strategy and loans.

"He is able to stably manage the organization and bring forth substantial change," the committee said.

Hur has led the bank since November 2017. The first term of CEOs in the financial sector is two years and they serve additional one-year terms if they have proven their capabilities.

Hur is not originally from Kookmin Bank or the Housing & Commercial Bank acquired by Kookmin, from which the lender's CEOs have usually been appointed.

In 1988, he entered the Korea Long Term Credit Bank, which Kookmin acquired in 1998.

Hur became the youngest bank CEO here, at the age of 56. He is recognized for taking drastic measures to change the lender's organizational culture as well as for digitization initiatives.

Hur was born in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, and graduated from Daegu High School. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in law from Seoul National University.