By Park Ji-won
Woori Financial Group said Friday it has formed a recommendation committee to select a replacement for outgoing Chairman Lee Pal-seung.
The nation’s largest banking group by assets held an unscheduled board meeting Friday and approved the launch of the seven-member chairman recommendation committee.
The committee will consist of three outside directors from the group, three outside specialists and an official from Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation, the largest shareholder of the group.
A Woori official said that the group will recieve applications from April 29 to May 6. Shortlists for a new boss would be finalized by mid-May, he added.
Once a candidate is selected, the nomination will have to pass the general meeting and the shareholders’ meeting. The new chairman is expected to take office in June.
The move came two weeks after Lee offered to resign on April 14 amid political pressure from the financial regulator, around 11 months before his official term ends.
Shin Je-yoon, the chairman of the Financial Service Commission, earlier made it clear that banking chiefs need to be “on the same wavelength” as the president. Shin is seeking to resume the sales process of the state-funded group for privatization. The government’s efforts to sell the group, estimated at around $6 billion, failed three times so far.
In the meantime, Euh Yoon-dae, chairman of KB Financial Group, Korea’s No. 2 banking group, said Monday he will stay at his post until his term ends in July, despite such pressure. KDB Financial Group Chairman Kang Man-soo offered to leave his post in late March.