By Kim Jae-won
Hana Financial Chairman Kim Seung-yu has ignored calls for him to accede to another term and virtually handed the post over to Kim Jung-tae, Hana Bank CEO.
The smooth transition is in contrast to the power struggle that almost toppled the industry’s most lucrative Shinhan Financial.
The 60-year-old Hana Bank CEO was the only candidate recommended by the company’s chairman-selection committee.
The committee, including Chairman Kim, said that it recommended Kim lead the group for three years.
He will take charge of Hana Financial as well as its recent acquisition, the Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), although the latter has been guaranteed minimum interference in its operations from the former. Now that the two have combined, Hana is similar in size to its three main competitors.
“I will assume the role of a helper who gets employees to participate willingly and helps them show their abilities fully,” said Kim Jung-tae in a statement. “I will do my best to make a happy company. I mingled with employees under the slogan Joy Together when I became CEO of Hana Bank. I will do the same this time.”
Kim is expected to be endorsed by a boardroom meeting early next month and a shareholders’ meeting scheduled for March 23.
The committee did not release further information.
Sources say that Kim’s wide human network contributed to making him the sole candidate. He had been widely expected to become the new chairman because Kim Jong-yeol, Hana president, resigned in the middle of the bank’s bid to take over KEB.
The outgoing chairman had been asked to serve and help consolidate KEB but refused, saying that it was time for him to resign.
Kim Jung-tae is a veteran banker who started his career at Seoul Bank in 1981.
He moved to Shinhan Bank in 1986, and joined Hana in 1992.
Kim is a retail banking expert who worked as the household business director and executive vice president for the household customer division. Later, he took on key posts at the group such as Hana Financial executive vice president and Hana Daetoo Securities CEO.
Experts say the new chairman may face tough challenges from both inside and outside the company.
“The KEB trade union, which insists on independent management of the company, may test Kim’s leadership. The gloomy outlook in the financial industry, especially from the eurozone debt crisis, will pressure the company’s performance,” said a Seoul-based financial expert.
Industry sources speculate who will replace Kim as Hana Bank chief executive.
Sources familiar with the matter say the lender’s two executive vice presidents Lee Hyeong-ju and Kim Byeong-ho are strong candidates.
Lee is a strategy specialist who contributed to the group’s KEB acquisition. Kim Byeong-ho is also known as a close aide to Hana Chairman Kim Seung-yu. Kim Byeong-ho is fluent in English and helped Chairman Kim negotiate with Texas-based Lone Star Funds to buy its controlling stake in KEB.